t LIBRARY F CONGRESS. 



* 






J UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. | 



V 



nl 



d 



/ 



LECTURES 



UPON 



HISTORICAL PORTIONS 



n 



OF THE 



OLD TESTAMENT. 



BY 



A. N. BETHUNE, D.D., 

ABCHDEACON OF YOBK, AND EECTOB OF COBOTJBG, DIOCESE OF TOBONTO, 

CANADA. 




. 
NEW YORK: 

THOMAS N. STANFORD, 637 BROADWAY. 

1857. 



^ sp* 



PREFACE. 



The object of the present little Volume is to 
increase, if possible, the taste for Scripture narra- 
tive in opposition to the works of fiction by which, 
at the present day, the public mind is so much 
engrossed. It is hoped, too, that the expositions 
offered, and the practical applications made of 
historical events, may serve, at least as hints, to 
lead to a more eager, as well as more profitable, 
perusal of the Sacred Yolume. There are also 
many occasions, it is believed, when such familiar 
lessons as these lectures profess to furnish, may be 
useful and comforting in the family circle, — on 
holy days especially, when the gathered house- 
hold would naturally seek their evening's occupa- 
tion in some religious work. 



PREFACE. 



"With this view, they are committed, without 
apology for their many imperfections, to the great 
family of Churchmen in this new world, — the 
growing and increasing progeny of our Mother 
Church in England. 

Rectory, Cobourg, November, 1856. 



CONTENTS 



LECTURE I. 

THE DESTRUCTION OF SODOM AND GOMORRAH. 

Genesis xix. 27, 28.—" And Abraham gat up early in the 
morning to the place where he stood before the Lord: and he 
looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of 
the plain, and beheld, and lo, the smoke of the country went up as 
the smoke of a furnace," p. 11 

LECTURE II. 

the passage of the red sea. 

Exodus xiv. 30. — " Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of 
the hand of the Egyptians : and Israel saw the Egyptians dead 
upon the sea-shore," ........ 27 

LECTURE in. 

THE DAUGHTERS OF MOAB A SNARE TO THE ISRAELITES. 

Numbers xxv. 3. — " And Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor : 
and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel," . 43 



6 CONTENTS. 

LECTURE IV. 

DEFEAT AND DEATH OF SISERA. 

Judges iv. 23. — " So God subdued on that day Jabin the king 
of Canaan before the children of Israel/' .... 59 

LECTURE V.* 

SAUL MADE KING. 

1 Samuel x. 24. — " And all the people shouted, and said, God 
save the king," 75 

LECTURE VI. 

DAVID NUMBERING THE PEOPLE. 

2 Samuel xxiv. 10. — " And David's heart smote him after that 
he had numbered the people. And David said unto the Lord, I 
have sinned greatly in that I have done : and now, I beseech thee, 
Lord, take away the iniquity of thy servant ; for I have done very 
foolishly," 91 

LECTURE VII. 

NABOTH AND AHAB. 

1 Kings xxi. 19. — " Thus saith the Lord, In the place where 
dogs licked the blood of Naboth. shall dogs lick thy blood, even 
thine," 105 

LECTURE VIII. 

THE SHUNAMMITE AND HER SON. 

2 Kings iv. 18, 19, 20. — u And when the child was grown, it 
fell on a day that he went out to his father to the reapers. And 
he said unto his father, My head, my head. And he said to a lad, 



CONTENTS. 7 

Carry him to his mother. And when he had taken him, and 
brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then 
died," 121 

LECTURE IX. 

NAAMAN THE SYRIAN. 

2 Kings v. 14. — "Then went he down, and dipped himself 
seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God ; 
and his flesh came again like the flesh of a little child, and he was 
clean," 139 

LECTURE X. 

THE SICKNESS OF KING HEZEKIAH. 

2 Kings xx. 1. — " In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. 
And the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz, came to him, and said 
unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order ; for thou 
shalt die, and not live," 155 

LECTURE XL 



Daniel iii. 18. — " Be it known unto thee, king, that we will 
not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast 
set up," 169 

LECTURE XII. 

jonah's disobedient flight. 

Jonah i. 3. — "But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from 
the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa ; and he found a 
ship going to Tarshish : so he paid the fare thereof, and went down 
into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the 
Lord," 185 



8 CONTENTS. 

LECTURE XIH. 

REPENTANCE OF THE NINEVITES. 

Jonah iii. 10. — a And God saw their works, that they turned 
from their evil way ; and God repented of the evil that he had said 
that he would do unto them ; and he did it not," . .201 



LECTURE I. 

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LECTUEE I. 

THE DESTRUCTION OF SODOM AND GOMORRAH. 

Genesis xix., 27, 28. — " And Abraham gat up early in the 
morning to the place where he stood before the Lord : and he 
looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of 
the plain, and beheld, and lo, the smoke of the country went up as 
the smoke of a furnace." 

Sodom and Gomorrah were cities of that coun- 
try which was promised to Abraham and his pos- 
terity, but occupied, it is believed in direct con- 
travention of the Divine command, by the de- 
scendants of Canaan, the son of Ham, — a people 
whom the curse of their forefather Noah, provoked 
by the irreverent conduct of this son, seems always 
to have followed. 

Twenty years before the present period, when 
Lot first pitched his tent over against Sodom, its 
inhabitants are represented to have been " sinners 
before the Lord exceedingly;" and the present 
wickedness of that city cannot better be under- 
stood, than from the fact that not ten righteous 



12 THE DESTBTJCTION OF 

men could be found within it to save it from 
destruction. But although even this little frag 
ment of the holy and good could not be collected 
amongst the ranks of the ungodly in Sodom, the 
Lord still adheres to his declared resolution, not 
to " destroy the righteous with the wicked." Lot 
and his family, like Noah and his household in a 
previous and greater calamity, "found grace in 
the eyes of the Lord ; " and the event proved that 
it was " far from the Judge of all the earth to slay 
the righteous with the wicked." 

To rescue this pious sojourner in the sinful 
Sodom from the threatened destruction, two angels, 
specially despatched for this purpose by the Lord 
as he communed with Abraham, came to the 
place at the close of the day. Lot " rose up to 
meet them, and bowed himself with his face to 
the ground ; " accompanying this mark of respect 
with an urgent proffer of those hospitable services 
so commonly rendered in the East. — This gave 
rise to, while it strongly enforces, the admonition 
"not to be forgetful to entertain strangers, for 
thereby some have entertained angels unawares ; " 
and it brings to mind our Saviour's own encourage- 
ment to the same duty, — " I was a stranger, and 
ye took me in ... . forasmuch as ye did it to the 
least of these my brethren, ye did it unto me." 
It instructs us, too, when we " bow with our faces 



SODOM AND GOMORRAH. 13 

towards the ground " in humble prayer to God, 
that we are not to be discouraged by any ap- 
parent forgetfulness of our devout petitions. 
Though the angels at first declined Lot's press- 
ing invitation, they at length entered into his 
house. And so our Lord, to his two disciples at 
Emmaus, " made as though he would have gone 
further," yet at length he was constrained to go 
in and tarry with them, — facts which should teach 
us the certain success of persevering in prayer, 
as sooner or later, in God's good time, the answer 
of peace will come. 

It may be said here, my brethren, perhaps 
with a feeling of invidious regret, Happy were the 
days when visitors from heaven thus deigned to 
come down and converse with men, " even as a 
man converseth with his friend." But we find 
even here, that " God is no respecter of persons," 
and that our condition is at least equally favoured. 
God himself was " manifest in the flesh " for us : 
the mighty God and Prince of peace " came to 
visit us in great humility : " the Angel of the Cove- 
nant declared to us a greater deliverance than 
that of Lot from Sodom : and we are told in words 
most comforting, " If a man love me, my Father 
will love him, and we will come and make our 
abode with him." If, indeed, we " sit at the gate 
of Sodom," ready to depart out of this wicked 



14 THE DESTRUCTION OF 

world when the Lord is pleased to call us hence, 
angels will be the companions of our journey; 
and in " the Lord's house on the top of the moun- 
tains," yes, far above the everlasting hills, we shall 
have security and joy for ever. 

The courteous and hospitable behaviour of Lot 
found, however, no favour or sympathy with the 
wicked Sodomites: on the contrary, they treated 
with insult, and threatened with outrage, the 
heavenly messengers ; and they were abusive to 
the patriarch, because he remonstrated with them 
against their lawless violence. — It is the Chris- 
tain's duty to be firm in his profession, and true 
to his principles, when adversaries " gainsay and 
resist " God's sacred cause ; yet must he beware, 
while he imitates the disinterested generosity of 
Lot, not to yield the imprudent and even wicked 
condescension to which that righteous patriarch, 
in an unguarded moment of friendly zeal, was 
willing to submit. To give up his daughters, as 
he offered to do, to the licentious lust of those who 
pressed around his door, that he might save from 
worse than brutal violence those who had been 
received as his guests, was a sinful concession, — 
one against which religious duty, not less than 
parental affection, will promptly and sternly revolt. 

The present was the last occasion of flagrant 
iniquity that was permitted to the lawless inhabi- 



SODOM AND GOMORRAH. 15 

tants of Sodom: this unnatural violence, threatened 
to the messengers of God, filled up the cup of their 
iniquity; and judgment for their sins is stayed no 
longer. " The men said unto Lot, Hast thou here 
any besides ? son-in-law, and thy sons, and thy 
daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, 
bring them out of this place : for we will destroy 
this place, because the cry of them, is waxen great 
before the face of the Lord ; and the Lord hath 
sent us to destroy it." 

This was a generous warning, but it met with 
an ungracious reception from most of Lot's fam- 
ily, — "he seemed as one that mocked unto his 
sons-in-law." They looked about them upon their 
abodes, and all appeared tranquil and safe ; there 
were no signs of enemies without, or of conspira- 
cies within. Nor were there, within view, symp- 
toms of approaching judgment. No lowering 
tempest frowned; no signs were manifested of 
earthquake or of pestilence. Yain and childish, 
then, they deemed Lot's fears to be ; and in pro- 
posing flight, they thought he trifled with and 
mocked them. 

Too true a description, brethren, of the fool- 
hardiness and contempt with which even now the 
men of this world receive the message of God's 
ministers and ambassadors. "When we speak of 
death, and judgment, and eternity, — of the worm 



16 THE DESTRUCTION OF 

that never dieth, and the fire that is never 
quenched; when we declare, on the authority 
of God himself, that these things are prepared for 
all who continue in wilful sin, and wantonly neg- 
lect to serve Him, — we seem to many who hear 
us, as though we " mocked.' 5 They see around 
them nothing indicating vengeance, — no sign in 
heaven or earth of Divine visitations, — no tokens 
of impending wrath amidst the evidences of 
mercy ; and so they go on in their sinful course, 
without alarm and without repentance, until the 
judgment comes, as it came upon the inhabitants 
of the cities of the plain. " The Lord rained upon 
Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from 
the Lord out of heaven ; and he overthrew those 
cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of 
the cities, and that which grew upon the ground." 
The destruction of these cities, — immediately 
provoked by the anger of the Most High, and as 
a judgment for their crimes, — God was pleased to 
bring about by circumstances and agents usually 
employed to accomplish the plans of His provi- 
dence. The winds are his messengers, " and his 
ministers a flame of fire." There are, in the 
prison-houses of nature, abundant materials for 
the injury or destruction of God's creatures, when 
He sees fit to employ them ; and the nature of 
the country round about Sodom and Gomorrah, 



SODOM AND GOMORRAH. 17 

— judging from some ancient testimonies, as well 
as the relations of modern travellers, — was such 
as to afford abundant instruments for the deso- 
lation with which they were overwhelmed. The 
most intelligent and credible travellers affirm, that 
the country round about where Sodom and Go- 
morrah stood, shows every mark of the former 
ravages of subterraneous fires and volcanic erup- 
tions. We may, therefore, conclude, as well from 
these facts as from incidental expressions in the 
sacred narrative itself, that the whole plain on 
which these cities stood was overwhelmed by 
the combined influence of an earthquake and a 
volcanic inundation. Lot, we observe, was ex- 
pressly commanded by the angels to escape to 
the mountain, and not to stay in the plain, lest he 
should be consumed, — for this reason, doubtless, 
that the torrent of liquid fire, or lava, would over- 
flow all the low part of the country. And when 
Lot, at his particular entreaty, was permitted to 
take refuge in the little city of Zoar, it appears 
that, from the same cause, — from the fast-spread- 
ing devastation of these fiery eruptions, — he did 
not think himself safe even there. He quitted it 
almost immediately for a higher and more secure 
retreat: "he went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in 
the mountain, and his two daughters with him ; 
for he feared to dwell in Zoar." 



18 THE DESTRUCTION OF 

On the same supposition, we can readily ac- 
count for the extraordinary fate of Lot's wife, — 
that she " became a pillar of salt." " Looking 
back," that is, delaying in the plain, — turning per- 
haps a wistful eye towards the ruined city, — she 
was caught and surrounded by the rushing fiery 
flood ; which, rising and increasing around her, 
at length encrusted her where she stood. She be- 
came embalmed, as it were, by this salt bitu- 
minous mass ; and, after the subsiding of the sul- 
phureous flood, remained a conspicuous beacon, 
and admonitory example to future generations. 

She is correctly stated to have been turned 
into a " pillar of salt / " because there was a large 
portion of that substance in the matter by which 
she was encrusted. This is manifest from the fact 
that, in consequence of the power inherent in salt 
of preserving from corruption, this striking memo- 
rial and strange monument is said to have been 
visible for more than a thousand years afterwards ; 
and as a further evidence of the fact itself, the 
lake which subsequently covered the ruins of those 
cities was called the " salt sea" 

But let us turn, my brethren, from the history 
itself with its various instructive incidents, to the 
moral and religious improvement in which it is so 
fruitful. 

Lot, we read, had warned, but warned in vain, 



SODOM AND GOMORRAH. 19 

his ungodly relatives, and their doom was fixed, 
for they " would not be saved ; " and, on the fol- 
lowing morning, when this signal destruction was 
to take place, and the angels urged Lot to hasten 
his escape from the devoted city, we are told he 
" lingered." Even Tie could not forsake his con- 
nections and friends, and it may be his property, 
without reluctance and regret; and though he 
knew that he must perish if he remained there, he 
was loth to abandon the place. So, alas ! it often is 
with those who are convinced of the necessity of 
forsaking all for Christ. They see, and acknow- 
ledge, the danger of cleaving to the sins and vani- 
ties of the world, — that they cannot serve God 
and Mammon, — and that, to escape from these 
dangerous pollutions, they must fly to Christ for 
refuge ; yet still they linger. Their steps move 
slowly towards God and their everlasting happi- 
ness; they cannot part with long-rooted habits, 
and beloved pleasures, at once and without a 
pang. 

"Would, brethren, that this urgent appeal of the 
angel to Lot might commend itself to the conscience 
of every one who will, despite of inward convic- 
tions as well as of warnings from without, linger on 
still in worldliness and sin, — " escape for thy life ! " 
It is not a matter which admits of delay or hesita- 
tion. The soul, the eternal life is in danger, while 



20 THE DESTRUCTION OF 

you remain unpardoned, unrenewed, unsanctified ; 
and if death overtake you while you are thus 
" halting between two opinions," you are lost for 
ever. Fly, then, from sin, — fly from destruction ; 
make your escape from the love of the world, 
from deceitful pleasures, from earthly and sensual 
partialities. Cast not, in your flight, one linger- 
ing look behind ; do not trust the deceitful heart 
to consider what you are forsaking, but think only 
of the prize you would win. Let the exceeding 
great reward, the incorruptible crown, shut out 
the remembrance of the lying vanities you are 
flying from ; look not back, lest you be consumed 
in the general destruction of the wicked and un- 
believing. 

" Remember Lot's wife," is the admonition of 
our Lord himself, when the world would entice 
back the almost delivered Christian to its false and 
fatal seductions ; when " they who have escaped 
the pollution of the world are again entangled 
therein, and overcome." Oh, would it not be an 
insulting depreciation of the glorious prize of our 
high-calling, should any earthly allurements be 
preferred before it, or even regarded with equal 
affection ! Would it not be a most sinful lower- 
ing in our esteem of the majesty of God, if we 
should choose any joy of earth before the hope of 
beholding His presence in heaven for ever ! Be- 



SODOM AND GOMORRAH. 21 

ware,. then, of compromising that future blessed- 
ness for the fugitive pleasures of this transitory- 
life ; lest to the claimant of a better and more en- 
during happiness, at the last day, this may be the 
stern but deserved answer, — " Verily ye have had 
your reward." 

Lot's wife looked back with a longing eye on 
the overwhelmed glories of a licentious city, and 
perhaps lamented the ruin. Whether the delay 
was prompted by mere curiosity, a desire to pry 
into the minute circumstances of that sudden 
and mysterious destruction ; or whether it were 
caused by regret that the scene of past pleasures 
and enjoyments should be for ever overwhelmed, 
— the delay occasioned her ruin. While she was 
meditating on the joys she had abandoned, with 
a secret, perhaps unconcealed sorrow for their loss ; 
while, her last and lamenting look was chained 
upon what had constituted her delight and trea- 
sure,— the rushing fiery flood gained upon her, 
and she was caught, and buried, and encrusted in 
the burning tide. 

Thus flies, perhaps, the thoughtless Christian, 
when warned to " flee from the wrath to come." 
Terrified by the threatened danger, he repairs 
hurriedly to his mountain of refuge, — to the "cov- 
ert of the rock," where he knows he will be safe ; 
but when the first frenzy of alarm has subsided, 



22 THE DESTRUCTION OF 

yes, even in the moment of pressing destruction, 
curiosity may be at its hazardous work. It may 
prompt an inquiry into the possibility of escape, 
without a further flight ; he may be meditating 
on some new and strange contrivances by which 
to be reconciled to an offended God, without the 
necessity of this pressing and instantaneous obe- 
dience. He may look back, with the guilty feel- 
ings of Lot's wife, upon the criminal joys he 
has left; and perhaps lament his surrender of 
those enslaving and destroying pleasures. And 
so, before he has gained the point of refuge, — be- 
fore he has seized upon the only hope of the sin- 
ner, by flinging away every weight that impedes 
his flight to the Zoar of safety, — death and de- 
struction overtake him, the Saviour not yet em- 
braced, nor pardon and peace assured to him 
through His all-sufficient merits. 

Sodom, as we are informed in the sacred nar- 
rative, was signally destroyed ; but what Sodom 
was, the world, at the second coming of the Lord, 
shall he. At the last day, when we look towards 
the place where its enchanting pleasures, its daz- 
zling splendours once delighted,— as Abraham 
arose in the morning, " and looked toward Sodom 
and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the 
plain," so we shall behold a sight like that which 
presented itself to the patriarch, — " the smoke of 



SODOM AJST> GOMORRAH. 23 

the country going rip as the smoke of a furnace." 
And, like the dissolute and depraved people of 
that country who were overwhelmed in its dread- 
ful overthrow, "the wicked shall be turned into 
hell, and all they that forget God ; " and there, 
" the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever 
and ever." 

Have you, then, my brethren, left the cities of 
the plain, — the wicked places of this evil world, — 
and are you on your way towards the mountain 
of the blessed, where there is assured safetv from 
the fiery tempest of God's anger? If not, we 
charge you to " arise and depart," — to flee from 
the wrath to come, — to wash, and make you clean, 
in the Saviour's blood, — to seek pardon and peace 
through Him, — to cleave to Him, to forsake all 
for Him. Then, as God, "when He destroyed 
the cities of the plain, remembered Abraham, and 
sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow ; " so 
will He also, when " all these things shall be dis- 
solved," remember one greater than Abraham, — 
even Him who "bare our sins, and carried our 
sorrows." For His sake, He will rescue us from 
this burning world, to be transferred to a world 
of eternal peace and brightness, of which His 
own presence will form the everlasting glory and 



LECTURE II. 

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LECTUKE II. 

THE PASSAGE OF THE RED SEA. 

Exodus xiv., 30. — " Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of 
the hand of the Egyptians : and Israel saw the Egyptians dead 
upon the sea-shore." 

We learn from the context that the children 
of Israel were made to adopt a circuitous route in 
their journey from Egypt to the promised land. 
And the reason assigned was, lest the opposition 
of the Philistines, through whose country they 
must by the shorter way be obliged to march 5 
should make them repent of their departure from 
Egypt, and awaken in their minds a regret that they 
had escaped one enemy only to encounter another. 

If we observe here, my brethren, that God 
dealt gently with the infirmities of his ancient 
people, we shall see that He manifests a similar 
condescension to his more favoured Israel, — to 
those who are begotten again to a lively hope 
through the Lord Jesus Christ. For we Chris- 
tians, the more peculiar people of God, have ene- 



28 THE PASSAGE OF THE RED SEA. 

nries worse than the Egyptians, and more formi- 
dable than the Philistines, to encounter in our jour- 
ney through the world's pilgrimage ; and although 
His almighty arm is strong enough to aid us 
against them all, and give us the victory over the 
mightiest and the deadliest, yet He, " knowing 
our frame and remembering that we are but dust," 
exposes us not to the peril. Well are we instruct- 
ed, and rightly do we pray, " Lead us not into 
temptation : " keep us, Lord, from such trials and 
dangers as would prove too much for our strength. 
Though we may be animated by the zeal of St. 
Peter, it is certain that we possess his frailty, and 
may fall as he did, to meet, it may be, no kindly 
admonition to wake the tear of penitence, and 
win us back to duty. 

How often, indeed, is God our Saviour de- 
scribed as the tender shepherd, who " knows his 
sheep ; " who knows how much of the world's 
roughnesses and dangers they can safely endure ; 
who, acquainted with their feebleness, drives them 
gently on, — exposes them to no unnecessary hard- 
ships, — and watches by their side in all their 
wanderings and toils. 

Such was God's merciful indulgence to Israel 
in their first remove from Egypt ; and no less 
wonderfully was it exhibited in their further 
progress. They were commanded, as we read, to 



THE PASSAGE OF THE RED SEA. 29 

proceed through the wilderness to their destina- 
tion ; and they needed especial guidance and pro- 
tection through that desolate way. They required 
shelter from the sultry sun, striking upon those 
unbroken, barren sands ; and something, too, to 
cheer them amidst the gloomy shades of night. 
The Lord, therefore, " went before them by day 
in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way ; and 
by night in a pillar of fire to give them light ; to 
go by day and night." — And this was no partial 
boon, granted for a few days and then withdrawn ; 
for " he took not away the pillar of the cloud by 
day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the 
people." It was a " cloud by day," to screen 
them from their enemies, and temper the scorch- 
ing sunbeams ; and a " fire by night," to mitigate 
its damp and chilliness, and repel the prowling 
beasts of prey. 

But has the Christian traveller no correspond- 
ing vouchsafement of his God, as he journeys on 
through his probation to the final home of his rest ? 
Has he no similar evidence of his heavenly Father's 
care, — no equal proof that his guardian from above 
directs his steps, and leads him safely onwards ? 
Yes, my brethren, the Christian experiences the 
alternate cloud and brightness of his heavenly 
Father's countenance ; he experiences the same 
alternations of radiance and of gloom, suited to the 



30 THE PASSAGE OF THE RED SEA. 

variations of his pilgrim life. He goes, perchance, 
rejoicing on his way : his sun of prosperity shines 
out brightly ; and its radiant beams are threaten- 
ing to scorch up the plant which heavenly grace 
hath planted. He cannot bear this exposure, un- 
sheltered and unwatered, to the withering glare 
of the world's joys and smiles; and then, when 
this spiritual peril threatens, our heavenly Father 
interposes with his cloud. He hides from our 
sight those dazzling splendors ; He interrupts that 
scorching, withering glare ; He casts a shadow 
over the deceitful and soul-destroying glories of 
the world ; He makes us see the nothingness, yes, 
the peril of those alluring joys. "When the world 
assails us with its temptations ; when we are en- 
chanted by its smiles, and lured to its idolatries, 
the cloud from our God descends, and veils its 
dangerous brightness. It comes down in the shape 
of some trial, suffering, or affliction, — in something 
to humble us, — something to shroud from our sight 
the dangerous fascinations of the present life, to 
check their blighting power and withering influ- 
ence. 

And of this interposition, what is the effect ? 
Like that of the cloud, charged with storm, in the 
natural world. We may grieve that the glorious 
sun is shrouded, — that the clear, blue sky is hidden 
from our view : we may be terrified by the roar 



THE PASSAGE OF THE RED SEA. 31 

of the thunder, or the lightning's glancing flash : 
we may even regret that the rain descends, as in- 
terrupting some plan of worldly business or plea- 
sure ; but what is the result of all ? When the 
blast is over, and the clouds disperse, and the sun 
breaks out again, nature shines forth more freshly 
and beautifully than ever. And so with the 
Christian. He may have his day of trouble, his 
season of terror and disappointment ; but the de- 
scending shower of affliction proves a shower of 
blessings, — watering the decaying graces of the 
heart, giving life and vigour to his drooping faith. 
This, then, is God's " cloud by day" to him, — in 
the day of his security, carelessness, and danger. 

But, on the other hand, lest the trials of the 
Christian should prove too great, and his tempta- 
tions from misfortune too strong, God, in the 
midst of judgment, remembers mercy. During 
the night of trouble, his " pillar of fire " is visible ; 
the cheerfulness of His guiding light is to be dis- 
cerned. For Christians, we know, have their days 
of darkness : they have even their moments of 
despondency, which a conviction of sin, and a sense 
of estrangement from God produces : the heart 
then, is well nigh overwhelmed with sorrow ; and 
for a time all within the soul may be darkness. 
But it is a gloom which goes before the rising day ; 
it is the darkness which precedes the dawn. Our 



32 THE PASSAGE OF THE RED SEA. 

heavenly Father, by His interposing grace, suffers 
it not to continue long ; He " lifts up the light of 
his countenance," and the gloom disperses. His 
heavenly " eye-salve " touches and anoints the 
blinded eyes, — His light penetrates into the dark- 
ened mind, — His comforts reach the desponding 
spirit. In a word, He suffers us not to be "tempt- 
ed above what we are able to bear." We may 
think the chastisement severe, and the trial hard ; 
but we must persevere in the confidence of His 
love. We must importune His help, and faint 
not ; and by and by " with the temptation he will 
also make a way for us to escape." In this way, 
the Christian has the " pillar of fire by night," — 
in the night of his fears and distress, — to guide, 
support, and cheer him. 

And who has not felt the benefit of this inter- 
position ? Who has not found his Christian graces 
thereby enkindled and refreshed, — his spirit light- 
ened of many a corroding care, — his soul left freer 
for its heavenward flight ? And who would "faint 
by the way," when, at God's command, he is mak- 
ing his journey from the bondage of this pilgrim- 
age and exile, towards the heavenly rest which 
is to be interrupted by neither tear nor sorrow ? 
Rather, my brethren, we shall " go on our way 
rejoicing," — knowing that, while we are pursuing 
our pilgrimage, we shall, in the blinding days of 



THE PASSAGE OF THE RED SEA. 33 

our worldly joy, have a cloud from the Lord to 
darken and deaden their attractions ; and knowing, 
too, that in our night of despondency, we shall 
not be without His fiery pillar to cheer and com- 
fort us. 

Thus did ancient Israel depart from Egypt 
under these vouchsafed tokens of the protection 
of their God; and we should scarcely apprehend 
that there would now be any interruption to their 
journey. We should scarcely think that Pharaoh, 
— his country desolated beneath the provoked 
judgments of God, and himself so humbled and 
alarmed at the last dread visitation which smote 
his own, and all the first-born in the land, — would 
ever turn a thought again to his departed enemies. 
But ambition, selfishness, or revenge, — some lurk- 
ing evil passion of a wicked heart, — prompted him 
to pursue the Israelites. He would endeavour to 
bring them back to his dominions, wasted as they 
were through God's judgments on their behalf; 
and compel them once more to their wearying 
slavery. Though calamities enough had been sent 
to tame the rebellion of his spirit, and subdue the 
pride of his heart, neither judgments nor mercies 
prove of any avail. God, therefore, leaves him 
to his own devices ; and because His grace will 
not restrain him, his heart is hardened. In de- 
fiance, not of Israel merely, — for they alone were 



34 THE PASSAGE OF THE RED SEA. 

helpless, — but in defiance of Israel's God, who 
had so often fought for them already, Pharaoh 
prepares his chariots and his men of war, and 
hurries on to the pursuit. 

But what were the feelings of those to whom 
his armies were approaching? Formidable as 
was the military array which was speeding on, 
could they be down-hearted, — could they lose con- 
fidence in the God who had interposed on their 
behalf so often ; whose cloudy pillar, if they would 
but raise their eyes above the scene of pressing 
danger, would have assured them of His unfailing 
protection ? But they looked off from this, and 
contemplated only the wide, deep sea before them, 
and the armies of Pharaoh pressing fast on be- 
hind ; and thus environed, they dared hardly think 
of the possibility of escape. "They were sore 
afraid, and they cried out unto the Lord." Not 
that we blame them for seeking this refuge in 
their distress, — for much as we may rely upon the 
Lord's promises, we are not to cease from, or relax, 
in our prayers; to gain the blessing, we must 
wrestle on in our supplications to the mercy-seat. 
But we must condemn their faintness of heart ; 
especially when perverseness and the spirit of re- 
bellion appeared to mingle with their cries unto 
the Lord. " They said unto Moses, Because there 
were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away 



THE PASSAGE OF THE RED SEA. 35 

to die in the wilderness .... for ifrhad been better 
for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should 
die in the wilderness." 

And does not a similar feeling, my brethren, 
sometimes find its way into the hearts of Chris- 
tians ? Does not a like murmuring break forth too 
often from the lips of the disciples of Jesus ? 
Though ransomed from the worst bondage in which 
the soul can be enthralled, — the bondage of cor- 
ruption, and the dominion of sin, — there is still a 
lurking attachment to the promptings of the carnal 
mind and unrenewed heart. "When trouble rises, 
and danger threatens because of their new profes- 
sion, do they rejoice in the cross, and glory in the 
shame which our persecuted Saviour was pleased 
to undergo ? Are they then glad to prove, that 
neither persecution nor distress shall drive them 
from their Saviour's side ? Often, alas ! the flesh 
contends too powerfully against the willing spirit ; 
and they almost sigh and ask again for the delu- 
sive quietude, and deceitful calm of their unawak- 
ened state. 

At this moment of peril to the Israelites, when 
their hearts sank within them and their spirits re- 
belled, Moses, meek and gentle as he was, remains 
undaunted. So far from participating in their 
fears, or giving one moment's indulgence to their 
despondency, he addresses them in this bold and 



36 THE PASSAGE OF THE RED SEA. 

cheering strain, " Fear ye not, stand still, and see 
the salvation of the Lord, which he will show to 
you to-day : for the Egyptians whom ye have seen 
to-day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. 
The Lord shall fight for you ; and ye shall hold 
your peace." They were to make no hostile or 
opposing movement, but place themselves entirely 
in the Lord's hands ; and He would achieve for 
them the victory without a blow of theirs. Moses 
was bid to " speak unto the children of Israel, that 
they should go forward." Their movement must 
be onwards, though the deep, stormy sea is before 
them : they must enter into its depths and brave 
its dangers, at the command of Him who is mighty 
to still even the raging of its waters, and open 
through them a pathway for his people. And at 
this moment, the sheltering " cloud," — the steady 
companion of their journey, — leaves its customary 
place, and stands behind the host of Israel ; thus 
interposing a barrier between them and their ene- 
mies. " By night it was a cloud and darkness to 
the Egyptians, but it gave light to the Israelites ; 
so that the one came not near the other all the 
night." 

And now, at the command of the Almighty, 
" Moses stretched out his hand over the sea ; and 
the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong 
east wind all that night ; and made the sea dry 



THE PASSAGE OF THE RED SEA. 37 

land, and the waters were divided." Over this 
strange pathway, the Israelites passed in safety : 
" they went into the midst of the sea on the dry 
ground ; and the waters were a wall unto them on 
their right hand, and on their left." The Egyp- 
tians, arriving at the margin of the sea, seeing the 
waters divided and the channel dry, — with that 
infatuation which so universally accompanies the 
wicked, — attempt the dangerous passage. For a 
time they proceed in safety, but providential ob- 
structions arise : they are alarmed by appearances 
and signs from the overshadowing cloud; and, 
probably as the effect of their consternation, ran 
one against the other, so that they " took off their 
chariot wheels, and drave them heavily." During 
this delay, the Israelites had safely reached the 
further shore, — their enemies still in the midst of 
the passage. Then, at God's command, Moses 
stretches out his hand upon the sea, and " the sea 
returned to its strength : " the waters close upon 
the hosts of Pharaoh, and they lie buried in its 
depths. 

Such was the deliverance of Israel, and such 
the final and complete destruction of their ene- 
mies. Let Christians learn a lesson from this great 
event, — they have their days of peril, as had God's 
ancient people, — with enemies behind, and the 
sea before them ; but in such circumstances, theirs 



38 THE PASSAGE OF THE RED SEA. 

is the same duty, to "go forward." Dangerous 
as the path of duty may be, they are not to shrink 
from it, or to stand still. In retreat there would 
be no safety ; for if they go not forward at God's 
bidding, there are enemies behind to overtake and 
destroy them. " Forward," then, is the Christian's 
duty ; and forward he may go, secure in the pro- 
tection of Him who commands that He may be 
obeyed ; and who, for the obedient, will work out 
certain victory. 

And let us not forget, my brethren, the em- 
blem of a greater redemption which this de- 
liverance showed. The bondage of Israel was a 
type of the thraldom of sin ; and the tyrants of 
Egypt represented those foes which war against, 
and persecute the soul. From this bondage and 
these enemies, deliverance was proclaimed through 
our Lord Jesus Christ ; and at the outset of our 
Christian career, in the very infancy of this spirit- 
ual undertaking, we by baptism, crossed the in- 
terposing sea, and escaped the intermediate dan- 
gers. St. Paul himself introduces the analogy, 
— " Brethren, I would not that ye should be igno- 
rant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, 
and all passed through the sea ; and were all bap- 
tized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea." 
Yet although landed, as it were, by this ordi- 
nance in the Church of Christ, we have still the 



THE PASSAGE OF THE RED SEA. 39 

world's wilderness to traverse, — enemies to en- 
counter, and dangers to surmount. Through the 
world's pilgrimage, we must still pursue our jour- 
ney: till we come at length to another stormy- 
passage, — the passage of death. But this crossed, 
— and, with the comfort and support of our Sa- 
viour's rod and staff, it can be crossed in safety, 
— the journey is over, the victory gained, the prize 
won. On the farther side of that passage lies the 
heavenly country, — the land where want and 
trouble can be known no more, — the home of 
eternal " rest for the people of God." 



LECTURE m. 



§%* §m$Hm of Jptoafc a $mn to th 



LECTUEE in. 

THE DAUGHTERS OF MOAB A SNARE TO THE 
ISRAELITES. 

Numbers xxv. 3. — " And Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor : 
and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel." 

In considering this text, and reviewing its at- 
tendant circumstances, some remarks are first 
called for upon the idol, or fictitious deity, whose 
name is here introduced. Many opinions have 
been given upon this subject ; but I shall state 
what appears to be the most probable. There 
was a person, among the heathen, Adonis by 
name, — or as some say, Osiris, — who, after his 
death, was worshipped with divine honours. Sac- 
rifices were offered to him, and a species of funeral 
entertainment followed ; after which it was usual 
for them to indulge in the grossest immorality 
and debauchery. 

That the present idolatry of the Israelites 
agreed with this heathen practice, is evident from 



44 THE DAUGHTERS OF MOAB 

these words of the Psalmist, — "They joined them- 
selves unto Baal-peor, and ate the offerings of the 
dead;"* confirmed by what the prophet Hosea 
thus writes, "They went to Baal-peor, and separat- 
ed themselves unto that shame ; and their abomi- 
nations were according as they loved."f These 
two passages allude to the double wickedness prac- 
tised at the feasts of Adonis ; namely, the sacri- 
fices offered to a departed mortal, and the profli- 
gacy which accompanied the ensuing banquet. 
They will, at least, explain the nature of the sin 
of which the Israelites were guilty ; and show 
how righteously the anger of the Lord was kin- 
dled against them. For surely they deserved all 
that was inflicted upon them, in plunging thus 
abruptly from the worship of the true and omnipo- 
tent God, whose guardianship and blessing they 
had so signally experienced, into the foul, impure, 
and abominable superstitions of the heathen. 

The children of Israel, a little before, were 
solemnly pronounced blessed by a perverse, but 
divinely enlightened prophet; in fact, no terms 
were too strong, no language too glowing, in which 
to express their happy and highly favoured condi- 
tion. But here we are taught, how vain it is to rest 
upon mere position, — to rely upon a mere privi- 

* Psalm cvi. 28. f Hosea ix. 10. 



A SNARE TO THE ISRAELITES. 45 

*ege. The Israelites were exalted as to their con- 
dition, and distinguished in their blessings ; yet, 
after all, they fell. From this we are required to 
take warning to ourselves. We are, spiritually 
speaking, — -as Christians admitted into covenant 
with Christ by baptism, — in a high position, in a 
state of peculiar favour and distinction. Called 
out of darkness into light, from despair to hope, — 
this was a blessing ; yet higher and more marked 
assurances increased and confirmed it. We are 
designated " children of God ; " and what can be 
a higher title? We were pronounced "inheritors 
of the kingdom of heaven ; " and where could 
there be a brighter promise, or higher aspiration? 
Yet the sin of Israel assures us that we may fall 
from both, — that we may lose the name and for- 
feit the inheritance, — that, forsaking God, we es- 
trange Him from us, and turn him into an enemy, 
— that, preferring the idolatries of sin, we cast 
away the desire and hope of our peaceful and 
pure home beyond the grave. It tells us to be 
warned, and to watch ; because, though by adop- 
tion and grace, we are children of the King of 
kings, we may be cast off by Him for ever, — 
though with heaven as our promised land, we 
may lose it eternally, and be consigned instead, to 
regions of eternal darkness and misery. 

The prophet Balaam, speaking under an un- 



46 THE DAUGHTERS OF MOAB 

controllable impulse from above, was perfectly 
sincere in proclaiming the high and happy des- 
tiny that awaited Israel. He could not change 
what God had appointed, nor utter curses where 
blessing was intended ; yet his carnal, selfish 
spirit swayed him still, and he would thwart, if 
he could, the Lord's merciful purposes towards 
His chosen people. The rewards of Balak still 
dazzled him ; his ambitious, covetous spirit caught 
at the honours proffered him. We learn from 
other parts of Scripture what he subsequently did. 
In the Book of Revelation, warning is given, 
against those who " hold the doctrine of Balaam, 
who taught Balak to cast a stumbling-block be- 
fore the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed 
unto idols, and to commit fornication." * And in 
a chapter of the Book of Numbers following that 
from which our text is taken, it is said, "Behold 
these," — that is, the women of Moab, — " caused 
the children of Israel, through the counsel of Ba- 
laam, to commit trespass against the Lord in the 
matter of Peor." f So then, this grievous sin, and 
the punishment that followed it, was the device 
of the evil-minded Balaam ; it was evidently he 
who instigated them to this great wickedness, and 
the disasters that succeeded. And in this he 

* Rev. ii. 14. f Numb. xxxi. 16 



A SNARE TO THE ISRAELITES. 47 

showed how well he understood the depths and 
windings of the depraved human heart ; how fully 
and speedily the gratification of its simple appe- 
tites would produce alienation from God, — deaden 
all fear and sense of Him, — and drive into the 
basest idolatry. 

There were not proposed to the Israelites, 
barely and alone, the idol feast, the superstitious 
sacrifices, the forbidden offerings for the dead. 
These, in the nakedness of their guilt, the peo- 
ple of God would have shrunk from ; but the 
daughters of Moab came down with their sinful 
fascinations, — proposed the after profligacy,— and 
ensured the idolatry, because the licentious grati- 
fication would follow. 

Painfully and sternly are we taught, my breth- 
ren, by this, how often and how successfully " the 
lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eye," are the 
lure and panders to the worst of crimes; how 
fatally they oftentimes ensnare the children of 
men into the foulest sins, and the most fatal im- 
piety, — to disgrace amongst men, and to estrange- 
ment from God, — to sorrow and wretchedness 
here, and to the pangs of indescribable misery 
hereafter. 

There may be a wild joy, at the outset, attend- 
ing these sinful and forbidden pleasures ; a thou- 
sand glittering but hollow fascinations mingle 



48 THE DAUGHTERS OF MOAB 

4 

themselves together to give enchantment to these 
scenes. There is the feast and the revelry, the 
song and the game ; and daughters of Moab, with 
unholy enticements, adding intoxication to the 
delirium of the hour. — Yet who will think that 
these are gratifications unmixed with a sting, — 
that no sorrow pierces beneath this show of en- 
trancing joy? There is, and must be, the dread 
consciousness of sin against the soul and of treason 
to God, even whilst the cup sparkles at the 
brightest, and the voice of mirth is loudest. ]STo 
outer glare can brighten the darkness within ; no 
sweetness of sensual gratification can deaden the 
pangs of remorse ; no sounds of revelry can drown 
the upbraiding voice of conscience. The Lord 
looks down upon them, as they career in this 
whirl of guilt ; and they are conscious of His of- 
fended look and impending vengeance. Even 
now, indeed, the ministers of His wrath are 
abroad, — embittering the sparkling cup, planting 
the rankling thorn, smiting with the seeds of dis- 
ease. The plague comes, too, as it came to Israel, 
— the plague of a heavy heart and troubled con- 
science ; all cheer and comfort flee, — nothing but 
blackness and desolation here, all darkness and 
despair beyond. 

Truly was it said, the pleasures of sin are but 
for a season ; while the stings of remorse, unless 



A SNARE TO THE ISRAELITES. 49 

put away by a genuine Christian repentance, 
must last for ever. Oh that such repentance 
might be exercised in time ; before the conscience 
be seared, and the heart irrevocably hardened, — 
while yet an angry God will hear and pardon, 
and the Saviour's all-sufficient ransom can be 
grasped with the reality of faith. For there is a 
fearful risk, my brethren, that the future conve- 
nient season, so often floating amongst the dreams 
of the sinner even while he cherishes and nur- 
tures his guilt, — that future season, when he dares 
to hope that he will do better, fling his baneful 
fascinations from him, and come back again to the 
God whom he has deserted and offended ; there 
is a fearful risk that this season of hoped-for re- 
pentance will never come. Long before its arri- 
val, the transgressor may be cut off and borne to 
that mysterious world, where at least there is no 
place for repentance, — a warning to assure him 
that no time is certain but the present ; that "now 
is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation." 
It was, as we have seen, through the counsels 
of Balaam that the enticement to their double 
crime was set before the Israelites. This was an ag- 
gravation of sin in him, but no mitigation of guilt 
in them. How ready now, as in all past time, are 
those who have been lured into the idolatry and 
licentiousness of the world, to cast the blame on 

8 



50 THE DAUGHTERS OF MOAB 

others, — to upbraid thoughtless or wicked com- 
panions as the cause of the excesses into which 
they have plunged. They forget, or affect to for- 
get, how prone their own hearts have been to 
admit, and to revel, upon those unhallowed joys, 
— how eagerly they have seized the cup of plea- 
sure proffered to them, — how many upbraidings 
of conscience they have heard unmoved, — how 
often the voice of anxious friends has warned 
them, — how many admonitions they have heard 
out of God's own Book. And so, though a Ba- 
laam's counsel, or Moab's daughters, may have en- 
ticed them into sin, they are without excuse in 
the sight of God. They knew the guilt they were 
incurring ; they were aware of the ruin into which 
they were rushing. The net was spread in their 
sight ; and though they were conscious of the fatal 
snare, thev were blind to all but the fascinations 
with which it was encircled. And, therefore, 
there is destruction for the tempter and the 
tempted ; even as, when a prince of the people 
fell beneath the spear of Phinehas, the Midian- 
itish woman, the companion of his guilt, perished 
too. 

But there was a wider vengeance, a more ex- 
tended punishment from the Lord, upon those 
who seduced his people into idolatry and sin. 
War, — a war, as it proved, well nigh of extermi- 



A SNARE TO THE ISRAELITES. 51 

nation, — was proclaimed against the Midianites. 
Tlieir kings were slain ; their women, their chil- 
dren, their cattle, their flocks, their goods were 
captured; their cities, and their goodly castles 
were burned with fire. And amongst the slain, 
— sad termination of a career of sin, — was the 
divinely-enlightened prophet himself. "Balaam 
also, the son of Beor, they slew with the sword," 
— this is the sad and brief record given of his 
latter end. 

What a melancholy contradiction, we are 
ready to exclaim, to that latter end on which, a 
little before, he had expressed himself with so 
much hope and piety, — " Let me die the death of 
the righteous, and let my last end be like his ; " 
telling us, in terms too startling to be misunder- 
stood, of the fearful risk that a life of sin and re- 
bellion against God may be terminated abruptly, 
without perhaps a moment's opportunity to invoke 
God's mercy and implore His pardon ! 

Balaam, we can believe, was sincere at the 
moment, in the supplication which he thus pa- 
thetically offered ; and such is the case now with 
many who walk in his steps, — in the same oppo- 
sition to God and holiness. Often they are con- 
strained to look forward beyond the wreck and 
ruin they are traversing, — from the desolation as 
to all pure worldly satisfaction, and the wreck of 



52 THE DAUGHTERS OF MOAB 

everlasting hope which this career of sin is so 
darkly bringing on. Often they are forced to 
look past this, and to think of the hour when 
they must haye done with all these earthly indul- 
gences, and become part of the dust and ashes 
from which they have sprung. But it is not part- 
ing with the world and its delights, such as they 
are, which brings all the pang : the future account, 
the future destiny it is, which awakens the keen- 
est feeling, and creates the deepest alarm. Upon 
that, despite its own hard struggling and the 
world's seductions, the mind will often dwell with 
intensest agony. The judgment-seat, with all its 
overwhelming accompaniments of terror, — the 
voice of the Judge, so merciful and yet so de- 
spised, — the eternity of woe never to be allevi- 
ated, the everlasting darkness never to be broken 
in upon by light of hope, — all this brings its mo- 
ments and hours of incon troll able anguish. And 
then, in contemplation of the reality of those fear- 
ful scenes, the wish at least will rise that they 
may be brightened by the beams of Christian 
hope ; and the wish, we can understand, will 
break out into this prayer, — " Let me die the 
death of the righteous, and let my last end be 
like his." 

May the history of him who has left these 
words on record, teach us the fallaciousness of 



A SNAKE TO THE ISRAELITES. 53 

resting upon an empty wish or hope. The last 
hours of peace were never his ; tranquillity in 
death he experienced not. No, but the wild ex- 
citement, the fearful tumult, the hideous slaughter 
of the battle-field, — these were the uncongenial 
scenes amongst which this man of peace, this 
prophet of the Lord, breathed his last. No re- 
pentance, alas, found as he was in arms with 
those who fought against the true God's chosen 
people; no change of feeling or of life, when 
dark purposes of revenge drove him to fight side 
by side with the enemies of the Lord. 

Just so, there is too much cause to fear, will 
it be in all similar cases. The only security for 
peace at the last, for the calm, hopeful death of 
the righteous, is timely repentance and a full re- 
turn to God, — and this, while time is left to prove 
that there is a real conversion to Him, a really 
reformed and altered life. Upon nothing else 
are we justified in placing dependence. The 
opportunity for this peaceful departure may 
never come, if a vigorous effort of repentance be 
not made at once ; and the hope must be a dim 
and feeble one, that God's pardon will be vouch- 
safed to those who are content to give Him, — not 
a proof, through years, of an amended and de- 
voted life, — but a few groans, and tears, and hur- 
ried prayers at its close. 



54 THE DAUGHTERS OF MOAB 

And here, my brethren, how much are we 
taught in the very nature of the doctrine upon 
which we rest our hope of God's accejDtance of 
us, — the doctrine of a crucified Saviour ! For is 
it nothing that our Redeemer was crucified for us, 
and that this Redeemer was the Son of God ? Does 
the vastness of this sacrifice teach us nothing of 
the heinousness of sin, — throw no light upon the 
duty of hating it and abandoning it, and becom- 
ing pure and holy ? For what means the warning 
against neglecting this great salvation ? Does it 
not assure us that the wrath of God could not 
otherwise be appeased, — that this costly ransom 
was indispensable for rescuing us from the wages 
of sin, the eternal doom to misery ? — And if so, 
can we go on complacently in a state of habitual 
neglect, and cherished transgression ? Looking at 
our atonement, and looking at our sins, dare we 
pass by the one, and cling to the other ? 

Be it so, if we are determined to be infatu- 
ated, — resolved to brave God's wrath to the ut- 
termost. But will it be so, brethren ? No, it 
cannot be ; but you will look to your best happi- 
ness, to your highest interests. You will look, 
ere it be too late, to the blessed Redeemer of the 
world ; you will seek at once a part and lot in 
His precious blood, and all-sufficient atonement. 
And then you will be happy, — happy in the 



A SNARE TO THE ISRAELITES. 55 

hope of acceptance for the Kedeemer's sake; 
happy beyond the best gratifications time can give 
you ; happy, because God is at peace with you, and 
heaven is open to you again. You will be happy 
especially, because the bright light of hope beams 
upon a futurity which would otherwise be dark 
and wretched ; sets heaven before you, instead of 
the gloom and misery of an eternity of woe ; re- 
vives the highest, purest joys of home in our 
Father's house of many mansions, where there 
will be no more separation, no more sorrow, no 
more sin. 

"Who, then, will hesitate to be on the Lord's 
side ; and who will delay the choice, when eter- 
nity is at stake ? Up, then, my brethren, to the 
struggle ; marshal yourselves under the Lord's 
banner once more, and the victory is secure, — 
victory over Satan and sin, over every thing that 
estranges you from blessedness and peace, — vic- 
tory, at last, over the sting of death and the 
power of the grave. 



LECTURE IV. 



LECTUEE IV. 

DEFEAT AND DEATH OF SISEKA. 

Judges iv. 23. — " So God subdued on that day Jabin the king 
of Canaan before the children of Israel." 

After the death of Joshua, the people of Is- 
rael appeared to be without a regular visible 
head ; for they cared^ not to recognize their true 
head, the invisible, but ever-present God. As a 
consequence, they fell into anarchy; and from 
anarchy into idolatry, and all the idolatrous prac- 
tices and abominations of the heathen. In de- 
fiance of the Divine Command, they became 
familiar, and made marriages with, their heathen 
neighbours ; and the consequence was, the too 
speedy adoption of their religious errors and im- 
purities. This, then, was the complaint and ex- 
postulation of the " Angel of the Covenant" at 
Shiloh, where the tabernacle was established, — 
" I made you go up out of Egypt, and brought 
you into the land which I sware unto your fathers. 
.... And ye shall make no league with the 



60 DEFEAT AND DEATH OF SISERA. 

inhabitants of the land, ye shall throw down their 

altars ; but ye have not obeyed my voice 

Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out 
from before you ; but they shall be as thorns in 
your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto 
you." 

This produced a temporary effect. At such a 
rebuke and threatening from the very mercy-seat, 
" the people lift up their voice and wept, and 
sacrificed there unto the Lord," — a sorrow so 
general and intense at the moment, that they 
called the place Bochim, or " weepers." But 
the penitence, or rather the alarm which awoke 
it, was of brief duration. They relapsed again 
into their old transgressions ; and if we seek a 
detail of the wickedness into which their idolatry 
and insubordination led them, we have it most 
painfully pourtrayed in the five last chapters of the 
Book of Judges. In this sad appendix to a pain- 
ful history, we are informed of the gradual pro- 
gress of idolatry in the tribes of Ephraim and 
Dan ; the licentiousness of a Benjamite city, 
Gibeah, equalling that of the men of Sodom ; the 
refusal of their tribe to surrender the offenders to 
justice ; the civil war which arose, in consequence, 
between them and the rest of Israel, so fraught 
with misery and slaughter, and ending in the al- 
most total destruction of Benjamin. These five 



DEFEAT AND DEATH OF SISERA. 61 

chapters, forming an appendix to the general his- 
tory, should come in, it is thought, between the 
second and third chapters of the Book of Judges. 

To punish these disorders, the Lord, in his 
anger, brought on them an invasion from a dis- 
tant and unexpected quarter, even from Mesopo- 
tamia ; and at other times, from cruel oppressors 
nearer at hand. Moabites, Midianites, Ammon- 
ites, and Philistines, in turn, overran their country, 
and kept the inhabitants under an iron rule, ac- 
cording as they offended God by " serving Baal 
and Ashtaroth," — the sun and moon, or Baalim, — 
" the gods of Syria, of Zidon, of Moab, of Ammon, 
and of the Philistines." Thus this whole disas- 
trous period was spent in a course of alternate 
sinning and repenting ; of sinning in prosperity, 
and repenting in adversity. As the instruments 
of their deliverance, eminent and pious men were 
from time to time raised up, who took the gov- 
ernment of the country upon them, and were 
styled Judges. 

At the period to which this chapter introduces 
us, the land had enjoyed an unusual repose for 
fourscore years; but as "the prosperity of fools 
destroyeth them," so by the ease and prosperity 
of a long peace, Israel is again corrupted. 

How much, my brethren, is the character and 
conduct of this fickle people verified in the case 



62 DEFEAT AND DEATH OF SISERA. 

of many individuals whom we daily meet with in 
the world ; who seem capable of bearing neither 
prosperity nor adversity, — useless or vicious in 
the one case, and inert or desponding in the other. 
These, by their perverseness and folly, are per- 
petually undoing the kindest purposes, and coun- 
teracting the most vigorous efforts on their behalf; 
and at last, the warmest and most energetic friends 
are constrained to abandon them in despair. We 
might the more wonder at the frequent relapses 
of the Israelites into idolatry, after God had ex- 
postulated with them so plainly and sternly, if we 
did not find the same evil propensity in ourselves, 
— the same proneness to forsake God, and idolize 
the creature. Ease and prosperity are, at this 
day, apt to work in mankind the same ungrateful 
returns to their heavenly Benefactor, as they did 
in the Jews. No sooner did Israel cease to feel 
the smart of the punishment, than they again 
" did evil in the sight of the Lord." Again they 
are punished for their rebellion ; and when they 
cry to God, they are once more delivered. 

And so, when heavy trouble comes upon our- 
selves, — when those afflictions reach us which 
touch, and well nigh break the heart, we cry to 
the Lord as our only refuge ; and He is pleased, 
beyond our deserts or hopes, to deliver us from 
our distress. But the smart of the affliction gone, 



DEFEAT AND DEATH OF SISERA. 63 

and our fears and dangers over, how prone are 
we to abuse the mercy, and start aside like a 
broken bow ! 

We have oftentimes beheld the mourner bowing 
humbly beneath God's chastisements, — going softly 
for a while, — betaking himself to the long neglect- 
ed duty of prayer, — and seeking the favour of his 
heavenly Father in the courts of the sanctuary, 
and through the channel of His ordinances ; but 
we have seen him again relapsing very speedily 
into spiritual indifference, neglect of God, and 
idolatry of the world. He offers, in fact, as did 
the Jews of old, a chequered scene of disobedience 
and repentance, — of judgments and mercies, — of 
transgression and punishment again. 

JBut reiterated provocations bring on terrible 
retributions. Neglected mercies, followed by 
more heinous sins, provoke judgments from God 
more heavy than all the past ones ; and so, for 
these renewed idolatries, " the Lord sold the Israel- 
ites into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan," — 
who, for twenty years, with an irresistible host, 
" mightily oppressed " them. Weak and power- 
less against such an enemy, they had but one 
resource, — " they cried unto the Lord." But the 
proud, self-willed spirit of the rebellious people 
must be broken ; and for long the Lord heard 
them not. The arrogant host, with their nine 



64 DEFEAT AND DEATH OF SISERA. 

hundred chariots of iron, swept through the land, 
bearing desolation far and near, carrying off its 
riches, and inflicting all manner of hardships upon 
the people. And amidst all this distress, the 
mercy-seat was barred against their petitions for 
help ; so the spirit of the nation was broken, and 
hope was all but extinguished. 

But the cause of God's Church, my brethren, 
— for it existed even amongst the degenerate 
Israelites, — is never to be despaired of. The 
"bush burning but not consumed," is an emblem 
of its vitality, overclouded, and fettered, and 
crushed as it may be : " cast down, but not de- 
stroyed," is a picture of its enduring life, the com- 
fort of which many an Apostle and holy man has 
in his own case experienced. What are accounted 
the "weak things of the world," God often chooses, 
that he may " confound the things that are mighty." 
A woman, therefore, is raised up to discomfit 
Sisera, the captain of the host of Jabin, and to 
deliver Israel. To a woman was confided the 
dignity of the judgment-seat, and the conduct of 
a war, — administering justice under the peaceful 
palm-tree, and from the mountain heights inspirit- 
ing the embattled hosts to victory. " Deborah, a 
prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel 
at that time ; " a prophetess often so called, not 
because of miraculous gifts so as to foretell future 



DEFEAT AND DEATH OF SISERA. 65 

events, — but because of her eminent holiness and 
prudence, and ability to determine causes and 
controversies among the people according to the 
word of God. She, the animating and directing 
spirit in the day of Israel's necessity, invokes 
Barak, the son of Abinoam, to occupy Mount 
Tabor with ten thousand men of the tribes of 
Naphtali and Zebulon, — designing to entice Sisera 
to attack him there. It was wisely foreseen that, 
in such a position, the horses and chariots of the 
enemy would be of no avail ; and when the op- 
posing host should be broken and a panic created, 
the river Kishon would intercept their retreat, 
and increase the slaughter. 

These skilful plans, favoured by God's Provi- 
dence and help, were not disappointed. Barak, 
self-distrusting, but confiding in the wisdom and 
vigour of Deborah, obeys her summons, — fore- 
warned that, from his dependence upon a woman, 
a woman should achieve the highest honours of 
the victory. 

Sisera, with his dreaded chariots of iron, dis- 
daining the slender army of Barak, hastens proudly 
and confidently to mount Tabor, encamps along 
the river Kishon, and fills the valleys with his 
host. At a propitious moment the signal of attack 
is given ; and the inspirited Israelites rush from 
the heights upon their enemies. These are speedily 



66 DEFEAT AND DEATH OF SISERA. 

broken, the panic sj>reads, and the rout is com- 
plete. The mighty Sisera abandons his invincible 
chariots, and makes his escape on foot, — his vast 
army being utterly destroyed by the sword of 
Barak. 

Hard by was a neutral people, the Kenites, — 
descendants of Hobab, the father-in-law of Moses ; 
and to the tent of their chief, Sisera, in his extrem- 
ity, urged his flight. Jael, the w T ife of Heber, the 
chief of the Kenites, runs out to meet the defeated 
and deserted Sisera, and oifers him heartily and 
eagerly the protection and hospitality of her tent. 
He craves a little water to drink, and she gives 
him milk, — the best she had ; and she covers him 
with a mantle within, that he may take a little 
rest. — To give a person food or drink, is a tra- 
ditional assurance amongst eastern nations that 
their protection may be relied upon ; and any 
violation of it, after such hospitality, brings with 
it the lasting brand of treachery and dishonour. 
Relying upon Jael's promise of concealment, and 
confirmed by her pledge of hospitality, Sisera, 
worn and weary, falls into a profound sleep. 

The echoes of the battle shout may have 
reached the ears of Jael, and the enthusiasm of 
the victors warmed her spirit. She may long have 
felt sympathy with the oppressed ; and her kindly 
feelings would be deepened towards those who 



DEFEAT AND DEATH OF SISERA. 67 

worshipped, as she did, the one true God. There 
were ties of affinity between her people and their 
people ; and there was the stronger bond of a 
common faith. The oppressor of her kindred, and 
the persecutor of the truth, lay asleep in her tent ; 
and a sudden impulse rises, — let us believe, di- 
vinely inspired, — to destroy God's enemy and 
theirs. With a courage which only such a feeling 
could inspire, she seizes a hammer, and with the 
iron pins of her tent transfixes the head of the 
unhappy sleeper, and with redoubled blows fastens 
his temples to the ground. 

Such was the end of Sisera ; and we have, in 
his sudden fall and inglorious death, a manifesta- 
tion of God's just dealings with the arrogant and 
cruel. It is true that he was an instrument in the 
hand of the righteous Judge of all the earth, to 
punish a backsliding people ; but oftentimes, such 
an agent of God's chastisements is more wicked 
far than they whom he is appointed to correct. 
Far from recognizing any delegated trust or com- 
mission from above, Sisera acted in the wanton- 
ness of a proud and cruel spirit, — consulting only 
selfish feelings in the execution of his work. In 
this case, his own turn soon comes to suffer retri- 
bution for abused power : the oppressor is himself 
chastised ; and having gone far beyond the limits 
of mercy in punishing the transgressors, he ex- 



68 DEFEAT AND DEATH OF SISERA. 

periences no mercy himself when his own day of 
adversitj 7 - arrives. The heart even of a woman 
grows strong, and her arm mighty, when the op- 
pressor is at her feet ; and a blow from a female 
hand can effect the deliverance of a trodden-down 
people. "He," says a devout prelate,* " that put 
this instinct into Jael's heart, did put also strength 
into her hand : he that guided Sisera to her tent, 
guided the nail through his temples, which hath 
made them a speedy way for the soul, and now 
hath fastened his ear so close to the earth, as 
if the body had been listening what was become 
of the soul." 

Though Israel had been so marvellously de- 
livered, it becomes us, my brethren, never to for- 
get, for our own edification, the cause of their 
punishment. It is true that, in these days, we 
need have little apprehension of that literal idola- 
try which provoked the anger of God against the 
Israelites, — the substitution of false divinities in 
His room, or the association with Him of unreal 
deities. But we have facts, all but as deplorable 
as such an apprehension would be if realized. 
Multitudes are forsaking God, and living without 
Him, — with no apparent recognition of His laws 
and will, — without his sanctuary, without his or- 

* Bishop HalL 



DEFEAT AND DEATH OF SISERA. 69 

dinances. Scarcely do they halt betwixt God 
and Mammon ; for God appears to be utterly for- 
saken ; there is hardly the show of a lip-service 
paid to Him, — certainly no mark of the homage 
of the heart, scarcely a cheering sign of a linger- 
ing devout affection. 

But woe to them, — the history of all God's 
dealings teaches us, — woe to them w T ho thus reck- 
lessly neglect and dishonour Him ; who show that 
some strong power of evil has mastered their souls' 
affections, — that a despot worse than Jabin, and 
more cruel than Sisera, has enthralled the inner 
man, and made him a hopeless captive. 

Yet, hopeless, my brethren, we dare not say ; 
for God is still ready to be a Deliverer to those 
who feel their slavery, and cry to him mightily 
for help. If they desire in earnest to cast their 
shackles from them, and come back again to the 
" glorious liberty of the children of God," the 
Holy Spirit's power is stronger than any earthly 
thraldom, and can set them free. 

And how is the Lord to be sought, and His 
help secured ? Not passively or listlessly, but 
earnestly and heartily, — in the way which his 
gracious Word points out. In looking for Divine 
cooperation in our militant struggles, we are not 
left, as it were, alone in the desert, or as wanderers 
upon the highway ; we are taught to seek the 



70 DEFEAT AND DEATH OF SISERA. 

strength of the Lord our God through ordained 
channels, — through sacramental symbols and 
pledges. With the help and refreshment which 
His grace imparts, — always real and heartfelt to 
the penitent and pious, — we need not be afraid 
of the worst of those unseen enemies who keep 
up their restless warfare against the soul. Through 
the patient, devout, and faithful use of God's ap- 
pointed means of grace, He will subdue every 
adversary before us. 

But most unhappy they, who yield up their 
souls into the hand of the enemy. His will be an 
infinite persecution, — a torment throughout eter- 
nity, without abatement and without end. It 
will be in vain then to cry unto God. There 
will be an impenetrable barrier to every petition 
from that dark and hopeless region ; no supplica- 
tion can pass the great gulf fixed between the 
devil's kingdom of despair and woe, and the 
brightness and blessedness of the throne of God 
and the Lamb. 

You must choose, then, at once whom you 
will serve ; and you must testify the sincerity of 
your choice to serve God, by a consistent and 
hearty action. There must be no shrinking from 
the narrow path ; no loitering on the broad way. 
There must be vigour in shunning destruction, 
and in seeking life. Christians are " God's work- 



DEFEAT AND DEATH OF SISERA. 71 

manship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works : " 
let them never, then, forget this purpose of their 
profession ; but, in reliance upon the strength of 
Him who " gave himself for us that He might re- 
deem us from all iniquity/' they must do good 
and eschew evil, — in purity, in holiness, in good 
works, they must be a " peculiar people." 



LECTURE V. 



LECTUKE V. 

SAUL MADE KING. 

1 Samuel x, 24. — u And all the people shouted, and said, God 
save the king." 

The previous chapters describe the strange in- 
fatuation of the people of Israel in preferring an 
earthly to a heavenly king; in desiring to cast 
aside the Lord Jehovah, whose direct control and 
government had. been their guide and protection, 
and to choose a sovereign such as the surrounding 
nations had. There we see that no argument or 
remonstrance of Samuel availed to change their 
purpose. He spoke as a man of mature judg- 
ment, and ripe experience ; and he spoke also 
with a Divine authority and inspiration, — but all 
failed alike to move them. 

Our heavenly Father evinces always great love 
and condescension, in counselling and striving with 
His rebellious children, — not always by direct re- 
velations, but by means and agencies which they 



76 SAUL MADE KING. 

can understand as well. He prevents and aids 
them with His grace : through this, he influences 
the stubborn will, and chides the rebellious heart ; 
still he exercises over us no irresistible control. 
He takes not man's free agency from him: He 
leaves him still the power to choose and act ; it is 
no absolute decree of His, by which the destinies 
of man are fixed. "We see it here, in the case of 
the Israelites thoughtlessly demanding a king: 
when every ordinary means presented in the 
strongest manner, failed, the gracious interposi- 
tion on His part was withdrawn. He said, ac- 
cordingly, to Samuel, " Hearken unto their voice, 
and make them a king," 

And now there is stated, simply and circum- 
stantially, in the sacred narrative, the means by 
which this purpose is brought about. First we 
must notice, that, when God consented that His 
people should have a king like other nations, He 
did not leave them the choice of that king. He 
did not place the election in their hands ; He was 
himself to select the individual who was to reign 
over them ; His own vicegerent he was resolved 
to make choice of himself. And this He does, 
partly to assert his own prerogative, — to cause 
his people still to look to Him as their sovereign 
Lord ; and partly to show, — much as their rebel- 
lion might have provoked a different treatment, — 



SAUL MADE KING. 77 

that He still retained his interest in their welfare, 
and would not leave so weighty a matter to their 
own blind judgments. 

It was determined, then, that a king should be 
selected from the tribe of Benjamin, the least of 
the tribes of Israel ; and from one of its humblest 
families. For such a selection, there may have 
been local and prudential reasons. Even then the 
rivalry had shown itself, which was afterwards ex- 
hibited so strongly, between the powerful tribes 
of Ephraim and Judah : even then, the disposi- 
tion was apparent, which, in after times, caused the 
prophet to say, " The envy also of Ephraim shall 
depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut 
off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah 
shall not vex Ephraim." — To have made the first 
selection of a king from either of these tribes, 
might have provoked a jealousy in the other, so 
fierce as to have produced a national convulsion ; 
so that it was obviously a matter of prudence to in- 
troduce a king from an humbler and inferior por- 
tion of Israel, before the sceptre should be made to 
descend to the royal tribe of Judah, — from the 
kingly line of which the Messiah was to spring. 

We can understand, too, that in selecting their 
first sovereign from the least of the tribes of Israel, 
Almighty God desired to habituate his people to 
reconcile lowliness of birth with dignity of sta- 



78 SAUL MADE KING. 

tion, — to show that the humblest pretensions can 
be made to suit the most exalted position. They 
would thus learn practically the truth, in the 
great work of redemption by grace to be realized, 
that many of " the first shall be last, and the last 
first." They would be taught by this, as by fu- 
ture successive lessons, to accept the blessed Jesus 
as the Son of God, although born of a woman ; to 
regard Him as the King of kings, though humanly 
of lowly origin, and shown to the world as " a 
root out of a dry ground ; " to believe that, though 
he came " in the form of a servant," he was " equal 
with God." 

This might be called the religious lesson : the 
moral one, adapted to every state and age, was 
that God can exalt the humble and meek, when 
they will best fulfil His will, — that, to answer the 
wise ends of His providence, he can "raise 
up the poor out of the dust, to set them among 
princes." 

Through a commonplace and ordinary cir- 
cumstance, the selection of a king of Israel was 
brought about. — The asses of Kish, a Benjamite, 
chanced to go astray ; and his son Saul, and a 
servant of his house, were sent to seek them. The 
search having been for several days unsuccess- 
fully prosecuted, the apprehension arises that 
Saul's father would be more concerned about 



SAUL MADE KING. 79 

their long absence than the loss of the asses ; and 
so he proposes to return home. The servant sug- 
gests a further effort by consulting a distinguish- 
ed prophet, or seer, then at Ramah where they 
were ; for he might point out to them the way they 
should go, to recover the lost animals. This leads 
to an interview with Samuel ; and the prophet, 
by special communication from above, is informed 
that this inquirer is the man to be selected as the 
king of Israel. And now every thing, on the part 
of the prophet, is made to attest the distinction and 
honour which awaited Saul : he is made to " sit 
in the chiefest place among them that were bid- 
den " to the prophet's feast ; and respect is paid 
him above all that the other guests received. On 
the morrow, as they were preparing to depart, 
Samuel proceeds to execute the Lord's command ; 
and according to the custom of the times, when 
one was to be set apart to a high office, whether 
civil or religious, the prophet " took a vial of oil, 
and poured it upon Saul's head, and kissed him, 
and said, Is it not because the Lord hath anoint- 
ed thee to be captain over his inheritance ? " 

So then, it was the Lord's appointment after 
all. He made choice of the king of Israel : though 
he yielded the office to their selection, He himself 
designated the person who was to fill it. Hence 
he was called "The Lord's anointed;" on that 



80 SAUL MADE KING. 

ground, whatever were his personal failings, he 
was treated with reverence and honour ; and for 
this cause, in after years, David, although so re- 
lentlessly persecuted by Saul, would not venture 
to lift up his hand against him. 

And it would be well and wise in us, my 
brethren, to take the view of this duty which was 
so common in those days, — to regard authority 
and government, when lawfully constituted, as 
the ordinance of God ; to respect the office of our 
rulers, though individually they may not please 
us ; to consider that it is, primarily, a Divine in- 
stitution ; and that to revile, or oppose those that 
are set over us in a lawful way, is to oppose what 
God has ordained. This view, so directly sanc- 
tioned by the Word of God itself, would help us 
to subdue many hard and rebellious feelings ; 
would moderate personal dislikes, and abate the 
spirit of faction. We should then, in the Church 
as in the State, be looking to the authority, not to 
the individual who bears it ; to the office, and not 
to the holder of it. Our personal disappointments 
would be lessened, and our contentment more 
rarely disturbed. It' would, in fact, lead us on to 
a high moral and religious life ; it would teach 
us submissiveness of spirit, and habituate us to 
self-control. In inducing the temper of subjection 
to worldly superiors, we are preparing ourselves 



6AUL MADE KING. 81 

for a freer and easier obedience to God, the great 
Ruler of all things ; while, in finding fault with 
visible human control, we are fostering the tem- 
per which will murmur against and disparage the 
acts of God's providence. Fretfulness, and repin- 
ing, and complaining at what is done by powers 
and dignities on earth, will easily be shifted to 
what is ordained by thrones and dominions in 
heaven ; from the earthly ruler, men are prone to 
pass on to evil speaking and blasphemy of the 
Supreme Governor of the world. Habits of com- 
plaint regarding regal mismanagement, or adminis- 
trative corruption, in a peevish, thoughtless way, 
will too speedily lead men to throw rash and im- 
pious blame upon the great Lord of heaven, when 
the seasons prove backward or the harvests fail, — 
when war, or famine, or pestilence, through men's 
own wickedness, are let in upon the world. 

We have evidence, as we advance in this nar- 
rative, of the kindness and wisdom of God's provi- 
dential dealings. He, whom He chose to be the 
ruler of his people, and thus marked out as His 
vicegerent in Israel, was not to be without special 
gifts for his new vocation ; the Lord was pleased 
to vouchsafe him strength and guidance suited to 
the exaltation to which he was to be raised. " It 
was so, that when Saul turned his back to go from 
Samuel, God gave him another heart .... and 
4* 



82 8AUL MADE KING. 

when they came thither to the hill, behold a com- 
pany of prophets met him ; and the Spirit of God 
came upon him, and he prophesied among them." 

" God gave him another heart." — New views, 
new motives animated him now ; a new direction 
was given to his understanding, a new impulse to 
his affections. His spirit was raised to higher 
conceptions, to loftier cares. ISTo more do the 
lost asses which caused his present errand, trouble 
him, — nor the business of husbandry, or the occu- 
pations of the field ; but how he shall subdue the 
oppressing Philistines, redress the grievances of 
Israel, improve the administration of justice, and 
provide for the public happiness and safety. 

"Is Saul also among the prophets? n became 
the saying amongst his countrymen. "Was it 
spoken in awe and reverence ; or was it uttered 
in mockery and derision ? Doubtless, there were 
those who felt and expressed either feeling ; some 
who wondered and admired, — others, who jeered 
and despised. And so in the world always, God's 
special gifts will be viewed in different lights : 
some will honour, and profit by them, — others 
will deride, and increase their sin by indifference 
and neglect. 

We are not, my brethren, to consider ourselves 
uninterested in this representation, or this expres- 
sion of wonder. We are to believe that, when 



SAUL MADE KING. 83 

men in the providence of God, are called to high 
stations of honour and trust, they will not be with- 
out God's blessing and strength for the discharge 
of their duties, if they sincerely and steadily ask 
for it. If they do not view such worldly exalta- 
tion as mere luck or accident ; if they do not 
regard their prosperity, or their honours, as the 
result of chance or good fortune, — as brought 
about solely by their own skill and merit, but by 
the Lord's permission, and through His help ; if 
they desire, in a spirit of thankfulness and piety, 
to make all they have of wealth, or dignity, or 
influence, conduce to His honour and glory, and 
the good of men ; if they would feel and act as if 
they were servants and stewards under Him ; we 
may, and should believe, that He will give them 
" another heart,"' — that He will, in answer to 
their fervent prayers, vouchsafe them grace and 
strength equal to their weighty charge and trust. 

And there is not one of ourselves, baptized 
into the family of God, who may not cherish the 
same hope touching our Christian vocation. By 
nature we are all worse than lowly and mean ; 
we are sinful, and rebellious against God. But 
his blessed Son came into the world to raise us up 
from our low estate, and to bring us back to our 
forfeited relationship with our Father in heaven. 
By baptism, we were brought into His household 



84 SAUL MADE KINO. 

and family, and were made His children by 
adoption and grace. Then we received our 
anointing as kings and priests, — with the pledge 
accompanying, that we should have strength and 
help for our high calling. 

This is to be no mere profession, as we know, 
— not a call or title that implies no action. The 
children of God by this adoption, must have a 
" new heart ; " and this the Lord assures to them 
from the moment they are brought in faith to 
Him, and receive the enjoined anointing. Our 
heavenly Father denies not the grace which re- 
news and sanctifies, when it is sought by the 
means which He has appointed ; He will help, 
nay, He has promised to help us, with a strength 
equal to our high vocation. The symbol of re- 
generation is not, then, a mere formal and inopera- 
tive thing ; but it brings with it assurances of the 
aid that we need for our warfare. 

And then, brethren, it will be no cry of de- 
rision, but a voice we should expect to hear, ap- 
plied to the baptized and the believing, — "Is 
Saul also among the prophets ? " They will show 
henceforward whose they are ; they will prove 
their relationship to the Lord who bought them, 
by appropriate gifts and graces. For if this can- 
not be seen, or said, — if there be no distinction 
visible between the Christian and another man ; 



8AXJL MADE KING. 85 

it will be no argument that God is unfaithful, but 
that man has flung away his gifts : it will shew 
that he has left the company of " the prophets," 
and chosen the society of the ungodly. 

" Is Saul also among the prophets ? " — This, 
alas, is sometimes a cry of mockery, whicli has 
frightened from duty many a weak disciple of 
the faith of Christ. The cry may be of some of 
you, brethren, — Is &uch and such a one amongst 
the Church-going and devout ; amongst the hum- 
ble, and kneeling, and praying in God's house? 
Is he, w T ho was once with us in our merry-makings 
and dissipations, amongst those now who join in 
religious ordinances and kneel at solemn com- 
munions? — In his early aspirings to be dutiful 
and good, conscientious and consistent, it may be 
that he has been chilled and kept back by cruel 
taunts like these, — by the sarcastic imputation of 
Pharisaic show, and righteousness over much. 
But do not heed them, brethren ; do not retreat 
one step from duty, because thoughtless and un- 
godly men revile your profession, and cry out 
sneeringly as of old, " Is Saul also among the 
prophets ? " Is this our neighbour and companion 
amongst the worshippers and the communicants ; 
amongst those that are living strict and religious 
lives ? Dare to do your duty to God, and so secure 
His approbation and blessing, and realize your 



86 8AITL MADE KING. 

best hopes of peace and happiness in heaven, — 
however much you may experience this sort of 
persecution for righteousness' sake. 

Saul, as we have seen, is chosen and anointed; 
but not yet proclaimed, nor presented to the peo- 
ple. Accordingly, Samuel calls them all together 
to Mizpeh : there he reminds them of their sin in 
rejecting God from being Ruler over them ; but 
that God, notwithstanding, had yielded to their 
request in making them a king. And then, to 
give to the matter the fullest solemnity, and to 
shew that its whole ordering was of the Lord, he 
requires that lots should be cast to designate the 
promised king. All, therefore, stood before the 
Lord : the tribe of Benjamin is taken ; and out of 
that tribe, Saul, the son of Kish, — a goodly per- 
son, as he stood among the people ; " higher than 
any of the people from his shoulders and upward." 
Samuel, amid the glow and pride of the national 
exultation, exclaims, " See ye him whom the Lord 
hath chosen, that there is none like him among all 
the people ? And all the people shouted, and 
said, God save the king ! " 

" God save the king," — no unfamiliar words, 
my brethren, to ourselves ; but, echoed and re- 
echoed through wide lands from generation to 
generation, it has come down in the fulness and 
freshness of its acclaim to us : it has its deep and 



SAUL MADE KING. 87 

earnest utterance in the private prayer, the public 
supplication, the national hymn. And long, my 
fellow-subjects, may these be words of truth and 
fervency amongst us ; not formal and unmeaning 
words, but a heartfelt prayer. And, as we are 
bid by our Christian instructions, may we prove 
the reality of our prayers by our loyal devotion, 
— by our respect for authority, and obedience to 
the laws. 

Especially, let us remember by whom " kings 
reign, and princes decree justice." From the 
earthly sovereign, — honoured and beloved as well 
she merits, — let us raise our minds and hearts up- 
wards to the King of kings. For that were a 
feeble and imperfect loyalty, which is limited to 
the creature ; it must soar upwards and onwards 
to the Creator. And reverence for human laws, 
let it expand and grow into full obedience to the 
Divine commands and will ; that we may imbibe 
more and more the temper of heaven, — advance 
nearer and nearer to it in our hearts and hopes, — 
so that, when the kingdoms of this world, and all 
the glory of them shall have passed away, we may 
be ripe and meet for an everlasting dominion, " a 
kingdom that shall never be destroyed." 



LECTURE VI. 



LECTUKE VI. 

DAVID NUMBERING THE PEOPLE. 

2 Samuel xxiv. 10. — " And David's heart smote him after that 
he had numbered the people. And David said unto the Lord, I 
have sinned greatly in that I have done : and now, I beseech thee, 
Lord, take away the iniquity of thy servant ; for I have done very 
foolishly." 

At the time the memorable event took place 
which gave occasion to these words, long years 
of strange vicissitude had passed over the head of 
David king of Israel. His had been an eventful 
life ; full of marked providences, a chequered 
scene of joy and sorrow, of triumph and humilia- 
tion. A shepherd lad, he was transferred to a 
monarch's court : from feeding flocks in the wil- 
derness he became the leader of armies ; and then, 
after hard trials and numerous perils, he became 
the sovereign of God's ancient people. 

David loved the Lord his God with an un- 
feigned heart, and no theme was dearer to him 
than the praises of the Most High. But he was 



92 DAVID NUMBERING THE PEOPLE. 

deficient in watchfulness over himself; and in- 
toxicated, perhaps, by the glare and grandeur and 
indulgences of royalty, he fell, in an evil hour of 
strong temptation, into a grievous sin, — the double 
crime of adultery 'and murder. This sad trans- 
gression embittered all his after years ; and it does 
not appear that, with all his greatness and pros- 
perity, he was ever again a happy man. 

But the saddest thing in all this dark portion 
of his history, was God's displeasure. It is true 
that he was forgiven, as the prophet assured him, 
upon his deep penitence and thorough contrition : 
his sin, because he grieved on account of it with 
a godly sorrow, would not be laid to his charge 
at the last great day. Still, in its bitter conse- 
quences, that sin must cling to him ; in all his 
after life, it must affect him with its poignancy and 
gloom. From that fatal hour, the joyousness of 
life was gone ; the sparkle of its cup was pass- 
ed ; its freshness seared and withered. There 
were, doubtless, seasons of gratification and en- 
joyment, but they were short-lived and capricious; 
times of bright hope and high success, but they 
were tinged with a cloud of foreboding woe. 
There was greatness, and grandeur, and glitter 
always ; but underneath a burdened conscience 
and a heavy heart. 

To the wreck of peace within, calamities with- 



DAVID NUMBERING THE PEOPLE. 93 

out number were added from without. He, the 
most fond and indulgent of parents, had no quiet 
nor comfort in his home. His sons were wilful, 
unruly, and impetuous ; altercations, feuds, and 
murders occurred amongst them; and Absalom 
at last, the pride and honour of his house as he 
esteemed him, rebelled against his own fond fa- 
ther, and drove him from his throne. 

We are not, however, to think that, in conse- 
quence of this series of misfortunes, these reiter- 
ated calamities upon his house, David was re- 
jected by God, or that He had refused to pardon 
him. No, he had God's own gracious assurance 
that his sins were forgiven, and that they were to 
be blotted out of the book of His remembrance. 
But sin is a fearful thing ; and $ sin so grievous 
as David's was, must long — through his whole 
mortal life indeed — leave its sting behind it. It 
would be washed away in the blood of the Lamb 
who was slain, in type to the faithful, from the 
foundation of the world ; but the soil, and stain, 
and wretchedness must continue till this mortal 
body of pollution should be put off, and mortality 
swallowed up of life. The true, heartfelt peni- 
tent,— he that has deep sorrow for his sins against 
a holy God, and in bitter memory of them goes 
softly all his days, — has many hours of peace, and 
hope, and joy ; and the fulness of expectation of 



94 DAVID NtTMBEKIETG THE PEOPLE. 

future blessedness and perfect reconciliation, is 
strong and unquenchable within him. But still 
the thorn rankles, and the cloud overshadows,— 
and all to teach him, not that God forsakes or 
gives him up, but to keep him a penitent always ; 
from the keenly felt influence of his trespasses 
and guilt, to uphold his watchfulness, to retain 
him in the safe path of self-denial, in the narrow 
way to eternal life. 

The unnatural rebellion of Absalom was re- 
quited by the miserable death of that wilful and 
wicked son ; and years of comparative repose 
marked the sere autumn of David's life. His 
kingdom, indeed, had grown into great prosperity; 
and our text shows that he was, on account of his 
prosperity, affected with a blameable degree of 
vainglory. Impelled by this dangerous and for- 
bidden passion, he issued to Joab and his captains 
an order for the " numbering of his people." 

In the chapter before us, it is stated in this 
way,—" And the anger of the Lord was kindled 
against Israel, and he moved David against them 
to say, Go, number Israel and Judah." In the 
corresponding passage in the Book of Chroni- 
cles, it is thus written,— "And Satan stood up 
against Israel, and provoked David to number 
Israel." * From these two passages we may draw 

* 1 Chron. xxi. 1. 



DAVID NUMBEKING THE PEOPLE. 95 

the conclusion, that God permitted Satan to tempt 
David to commit an offence that would draw 
the Divine punishment upon himself and his peo- 
ple ; just as he afterwards permitted the same 
evil and lying spirit to seduce the prophets of 
Ahab. 

The ruling passion by which the tempter assail- 
ed David was " the pride of life ; " which, though 
checked and mortified by the wholesome restraints 
of adversity, had broken out again with the return- 
ing sunshine of prosperity. In this light it was 
evidently considered by Joab and the captains of 
the host ; for they, with a manifest knowledge of 
its sinfulness, remonstrated in this manner against 
the decree, — "Now the Lord thy God add unto 
the people, how many soever they be, a hundred 
fold, and that the eyes of my lord the king may 
see it ; but why doth my lord the king delight in 
this thing ? " In the parallel passage in Chronicles, 
it is said that Joab considered this as " a cause of 
trespass unto Israel ; " and that " the king's word 
was abominable unto Joab." 

The offence of David seems to have consisted 
chiefly in his persisting to require a muster of 
all his subjects able to bear arms, without the 
Divine command, without necessity, and in a time 
of profound peace, — all to indulge an idle vanity 
and presumption, or as if he placed his depend- 



96 DAVID NUMBERING THE PEOPLE. 

ence more in the number of his subjects than in 
the Divine protection. We are also to notice 
that there was in this the violation of an express 
law, which God ordered to be observed under the 
severest penalty. In the Book of Exodus it was 
thus specially commanded, — " When thou takest 
the sum of the children of Israel, then shall they 
give every man a ransom for his soul unto the 
Lord, when thou numberest them ; that there be 
no plague among them when thou numberest 
them." * It is not likely that this stipulation of 
the Divine law was, in the present case, fulfilled, 
— a law for this reason remarkable, as it was in- 
tended to show that all the people, thus numbered, 
were God's subjects, and as such to be ransomed 
by a certain payment. The act of David, on the 
other hand, would rather serve to show that he 
numbered the people to testify that they were his 
subjects, and to display his own sovereignty, — 
thus virtually setting aside the supremacy of Al- 
mighty God. 

The transgression was committed : the num- 
bering of the people, in contravention of the Di- 
vine command, took place ; and the strength and 
might of his kingdom, as thus ascertained, was all 
that could gratify David's pride and ambition. 

* Exodus xxx. 12. 



DAVID NUMBERING THE PEOPLE. 97 

But he must suffer for the indulgence ; and the 
anger of the Lord, for this renewed sin, must be 
visited upon the land. A choice of visitations 
is left to him ; but war, with its horrors, he de- 
precates, — he shrinks from the cruelty and op- 
pression of man, in fleeing, as was proposed, 
three months before his enemies. He chooses, 
therefore, to fall into the hand of God ; and so the 
Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel, which, in a 
few brief days, sweeps away its tens of thousands. 
Jerusalem, the glory of the land, is as yet un- 
harmed ; but the hand of the destroying angel is 
uplifted to smite it too, when David, in an agony 
of supplication, prays that he, the offender, might 
be smitten, with his father's house, and that the 
unoffending people might be spared. The strong 
crying and tears which he put forth, and the 
sacrifice which he offered up, reached the mercy- 
seat, and the plague was stayed. * 

To make a personal application of this subject 
to ourselves, we need not, my brethren, dwell 
upon what, in our own individual history, has oc- 
curred of joy or sorrow, — of clouds of heavenly 
anger lowering on us for a time, and the light of 
God's reconciled countenance afterwards lifted up. 
We need not speak of what has affected ourselves 
in heavenly chastisements and providential mer- 
cies ; and the meed of gratitude and devotion 

5 



98 DAVID NUMBEKING THE PEOPLE. 

which duty urged when these mercies were experi- 
enced. For a more enlivening, and more im- 
proving contemplation, we may take a wider 
range, — -we may look at the whole world exposed 
to the heavenly anger, and the destroying angel's 
sword ready to smite the sinners of a universe. 
And we know who it was that interposed for 
the deliverance of lost mankind, and at what a 
cost that interposition was effected. It was no 
sacrifice of bulls and goats that in this case stayed 
the arm of the destroying messenger; but the 
costly sacrifice of God's own Son was needed to 
arrest the plague, and cause the work of everlast- 
ing destruction to cease. 

We, then, have been delivered, — all of us 
ransomed from death's permanent dominion, res- 
cued from the fire and torment of the regions of 
darkness and despair : a way, at least, has been 
provided by which this eternal misery may be 
avoided, and heaven secured. And shall we, so 
interested, ourselves the redeemed ones, be con- 
tent with a bare contemplation of these wonders 
of redeeming love ? Shall we look on, and re- 
gard ourselves as a privileged people, for whose 
eternal benefit great signs and miracles have been 
wrought, and yet feel no prompting of the mind 
and heart to do what David did, — to make a sacri- 
fice to the Lord, and not to think of offering that 



DAVID NUMBERING THE PEOPLE. 99 

which " cost him nothing? " Or was his the greater 
mercy ; ours the inferior blessing ? Could he re- 
fuse Araunah's offered gift of wood and oxen, and 
other implements for a noble sacrifice, because he 
deemed it a mark of an unthankful, indifferent 
heart, to offer that to God which cost him nothing ? 
And shall we, ransomed by the precious blood of 
Christ, be content to give to God only that which 
imposes neither trouble, nor burden, nor inconve- 
nience upon us ? 

Often the complaint is made, — and it were 
well if there were not a cause, — that religion, in 
many quarters, is reduced to a mere formality ; 
that it is outward only and unfelt, a mockery and 
semblance merely of what should be deep, and 
real, and earnest. — Sometimes, no doubt, this ac- 
cusation is rashly and uncharitably made, and to 
his own Master the offender must stand or fall ; 
but when it is unfounded, or. wrongfully applied, 
we should be enabled to discern the proof in a 
heartfelt, pervading, and consistent religion. In 
its active, practical exercise,— in the fulfilment 
of its outward duties, — in the application of its 
rules and ordinances to the inner life, — we should 
be able to see a resolute acting upon the principle 
of David, not to offer unto God of that which costs 
us nothing. 

If, for example, the discharge of the duties of 



100 DAVID NUMBERING THE PEOPLE. 

our holy faith should call for toil and trouble, — 
should demand the sacrifice of some temporal con- 
veniences, the giving up of some worldly satisfac- 
tions; if, in waiting upon the house and ordi- 
nances of God, we have to contend against per- 
verse inclinations and opposing interests of the 
natural man, — we have the remonstrance at hand, 
" Shall we offer unto God of that which costs us 
nothing ? " Shall we be content with a profession 
which costs no time or labour, no trouble, no 
surrender of a single earthly gratification ? And 
shall we be thus meagre in our offerings to God, 
while, for mere interests of the world, — for indul- 
gences of this frail body, — so much cost of time, 
and toil, and anxiety is readily endured ? Shall 
we, in a word, be at all this pains for the world, — 
make all the sacrifices for the mortal life ; and 
offer none, comparatively, for God, the soul, and 
eternity ? 

Shame, we may well exclaim, upon the apathy 
of Christians ! No : shame were too weak a word 
to apply to our slightest duty to the King of kings. 
Something more of the stern and awful reality of 
truth should be mingled with the term to desig- 
nate that heartlessness and neglect. If sifted nar- 
rowly, and examined honestly, it amounts to im- 
piety and irreligion. What else, indeed, than un- 
godliness and unbelief, can such a disregard and 



DAVID NUMBERING THE PEOPLE. 101 

neglect of God be named, — the placing Him and 
His service so far behind our worldly claims and 
calls? 

And who can wonder. — when such proves to 
be the prevailing temper of a kingdom, or a state, 
or a province, — that our God should be angry? 
Who could wonder, if our harvests should be 
blighted, and our abundance turned into the 
hardest poverty ; who could wonder, if pestilence 
should stalk abroad, and sweep away its tens of 
thousands ; who could wonder, if enemies were let 
in like a flood upon us, — when laxity so fearful, an 
indifference so blighting, prevails in regard to the 
duties which God specially claims, and insists 
upon from His people ? It will all come, my 
brethren, — all these woes will assuredly come, 
if we do not, as a people, repent and become 
changed ; learn to love God more, and serve Him 
better. 

But all the things of earth and its vicissitudes, 
all that can affect this tabernacle of flesh, or bear 
upon our mortal destiny, are, comparatively, 
nothing. The soul, the immortal part, our ever- 
lasting doom, this it is which should engage our 
deepest concern, our anxious interests and efforts. 
Our state hereafter is perilled fearfully, and hope- 
lessly too, by such neglect of God, — such heedless 
abandonment of the duties of our faith. It would 



102 DAVID NUMBERING THE PEOPLE. 

seem, indeed, as if sin were looked upon as noth- 
ing, when the great atonement for sin is viewed 
so coldly; when there is no hearty seeking for 
the Saviour in his holy courts, — no longing and 
striving for a union with Him in that mystical 
banquet wherein He offers to the faithful the com- 
munion of his body and blood. 

Without that interposition of the Divine mercy, 
of which these holy mysteries are a memorial and 
a pledge, we must have perished everlastingly : 
the destroying angel threatened not merely the de- 
struction of the body, but the ruin of the soul, of 
the immortal, the undying man. From this de- 
struction, the wrath of God, falling upon His own 
blessed Son, delivered us. Duly affected, then, 
by this most solemn fact, shall we not, — instead 
•of trying, by a process of selfish calculation, to 
serve and honour Him with that which " costs us 
nothing," — cry out, like Saul when stricken to 
the earth, with earnestness and heartiness, " Lord, 
what wilt thou have me to do ? " Shall we not, 
with a higher example before us, say and feel, 
" My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me ? " 



LECTURE VII. 

^a&tfilt and &ftafc. 



LECTUKE VH. 

NABOTH AND AHAB. 

1 Kings xxi. 19. — " Thus saith the Lord, In the place where 
dogs licked the blood of Naboth, shall dogs lick thy blood, even 
thine." 

Lawlessness and anarchy seemed to be as 
prevalent in these days of Israel's degeneracy, as 
they ever were during that period of barbarity 
and outrage when " there was no king in Israel, 
and every man did that which was right in his 
own eyes." All had gone wrong in the Church 
and in the State, — in morality and in government, 
since the days of " Jeroboam the son of Nebat, 
who made Israel to sin." His rent in the king- 
dom, and his schism in the Church, — the harsh 
breaking up of the allegiance due to his sovereign, 
and above all, the separation of so many of God's 
people from the national religion and worship, — 
were productive of immediate and never-ceasing 
calamity to his house and to the land. With the 
lowest of the people as priests, there was little to 

5* 



106 NABOTH AND AHAB. 

counteract the evil influence of the most profligate 
of the people as princes : wicked sovereigns made 
bad subjects ; and the fear of God was grievously 
relaxed by the division in his Church, the deser- 
tion of his temple, and the substitution of an idol 
worship at Dan and Bethel. Intermarriages, too, 
with neighbouring heathen nations, brought in a 
direct idolatry ; and good living and sound moral- 
ity were relaxed just in the proportion that direct 
duty to God was forsaken. 

What a picture of this fearful moral degeneracy 
have we in the chapter before us ! Covetousness 
and rapacity, perjury and murder, — crimes the 
most awful made to work out the gratification of 
selfish and depraved passions ! 

Ahab had evidently failed to profit by the 
many warning judgments he, and the land, had 
recently experienced. The desolating famine, 
and through God's mercy the recovery from it, — 
the invasion of the Syrians, and their wonderful 
overthrow, — did not change his heart, or render 
him more obedient to the Divine will and laws. 
The abundance which royal wealth secured, and 
conquest gave, was not enough : the little patri- 
mony of a neighbour, the humble vineyard of 
Naboth the Jezreelite, was looked upon with a 
longing eye because it touched upon the royal 
domain, and would be convenient as a garden of 



NAB0TH AND AHAB. 107 

herbs. Poor comfort and benefit in wealth, we 
may well say, if the augmented store only increases 
the desire for more. This insatiable passion makes 
the greatest mean, and the richest poor ; and not 
he who has most, but he who covets least, is the 
truly rich man. Competency is the only real 
wealth ; for there is still poverty, where there is 
no limit to desire, and no control of the mad pas- 
sion for getting more. 

Looking at the matter in its mere worldly 
aspect, how erroneously should we often calculate 
in congratulating ourselves upon the pleasant 
place of our lot, and the goodliness of the heritage 
which has fallen to us ! The choice position of 
ISTaboth's vineyard was a snare to him, and a de- 
struction ; in a sequestered and obscure spot, it 
would not have awakened the cupidity of the un- 
scrupulous Ahab and the cruel Jezebel. And 
how little now do people think, that what they 
count their good fortune and their happy lot, is 
in reality often their bane and their calamity ! 
They hear with envy, perhaps, of the wonderful 
good luck, as they term it, of such a one's posi- 
tion, — how the chance of a favourable locality has 
given him a sudden fortune. But we discern not 
the under current ; we know nothing of the mys- 
terious workings of God's providence. That suc- 
cessful speculation, and the sudden affluence it 



108 NABOTH AND AHAB. 

may have brought, may prove a snare and ruin, 
as it did to Naboth. If direct worldly calamity 
do not follow, that envied prosperity may be the 
destruction of the soul. The canker eats fast into 
the spiritual life ; and there is, as a consequence, 
alienation from God and desertion by God. For 
what avails it, my brethren, if, with earthly riches, 
the soul is starved and poor? "What will the 
benefit be, on the terrible night when the soul 
shall be required, and it stands before the tribu- 
nal of the Almighty, only to confess to gifts mis- 
applied and talents wasted ? In a lowly situation, 
where wealth offered not its temptations, and where 
a competence was thankfully gained by patient 
and honest industry, the fear and favour of God 
would have been better maintained. There would 
have been more likelihood of domestic piety, a 
religious training of the household, a life of godli- 
ness, and a death of peace. But, with the world's 
acquisitions, the world's temper has come in. 
Religion is no longer the one thing needful ; tran- 
sient pomps and fruitless vanities engross the 
circle ; and a careless, earth-enslaved generation 
gives place to one more irreligious and depraved. 
If JSTaboth should be thought to have met, with 
an unreasonable pride and obstinacy, the propo- 
sal of his sovereign to give him the value of this 
vineyard in money, or another as good in exchange 



NABOTH AND AHAB. 109 

for it, we must recollect the grounds of his refusal. 
According to the law, nothing but extreme poverty 
would justify the alienation of an hereditary patri- 
mony ; and even in this case, it must be restored 
to the original owner at the Jubilee. While 
Nabotli could not plead this pressure of poverty 
for parting with the inheritance of his fathers, he 
well knew that, if once added to the domains of 
the king, not even the solemn requirements of the 
Jubilee would be strong enough to wrest it from 
the royal grasp. 

Ahab exhibits his disappointment with all the 
weakness of a little, and world-enslaved mind. 
In mingled rage and grief, he " laid him down 
upon his bed, and turned away his face, and would 
eat no bread." The sin, then, is its own punish- 
ment ; the discontent brings on its kindred misery ; 
his high condition cannot alleviate the pangs of 
the' spirit. St. Paul was contented, and sang 
thankful songs in a prison ; but Ahab is dissatis- 
fied in a palace. He had at his command, the 
delights of a pleasant land, the wealth of a king- 
dom, the pleasures of a court, the honours of a 
throne ; yet all this avails him nothing, so long 
as JSTaboth's vineyard is not his.. 

But there was a presiding spirit of evil in the 
house of Ahab. Jezebel, that " cursed woman," 
as she is styled, is ready with her counsels of Satan. 



110 NABOTH AND AHAB. 

She pities and despises her husband's childish 
weakness ; and she tells him to put off his sad 
looks, and enjoy himself as before, — for she would 
speedily give him the vineyard of Naboth the 
Jezreelite. The history tells us with what a com- 
plication of terrible crimes she brought about this 
end, and ushered the heartless Ahab into the 
coveted possession. 

First, by his command, there is the solemn 
mockery of a fast proclaimed, in the place where 
the doomed Naboth lived. Thus, w^ith a lying 
solemnity, were the people told that there was 
amongst them some " cursed thing,' 5 — some 
plague-spot like Achan, — which must be searched 
out and destroyed. To the royal ear, as the cun- 
ning story w^as, there came the news of a deep 
crime among the Jezreelites, — of some wicked 
one of their number guilty of blasphemy against 
God, and of treasonable words against the king. 
The enjoined fast indicated the magnitude of the 
imputed crime ; the whole people must publicly 
mourn for the wickedness of this unknown one. 
And then, through the wretched panders to Jeze- 
bel's falsehood and cruelty, Naboth is dragged 
forward, and " set up on high," — placed con- 
spicuously, — "among the people," and accused 
of those monstrous crimes which demanded the 
humiliation of the whole city. It was in vain 



NABOTH AND AHAB. Ill 

that his innocence was pleaded, — that he affirmed 
his entire ignorance of that imputed wickedness : 
" men of Belial," men ready for any perjury and 
any baseness, "witnessed against him, even against 
Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, 
Naboth did blaspheme God and the king." And 
as, by the law of Moses, it was death to blaspheme 
God, and by custom it was death to revile the 
king, there could be no hesitation, when that 
double crime was sworn to, in inflicting the ex- 
tremest penalty upon the unhappy Naboth. 
" They carried him forth out of the city, and 
stoned him with stones, that he died," — ostensibly 
for blasphemy and treason, but really because he 
had a vineyard which Ahab coveted, and which, 
as the inheritance of his fathers, he expressed a 
religious determination to keep in his family. 

There was a consistent cunning in the allega- 
tion of this double crime. When a man was con- 
victed of blasphemy merely, he suffered death, 
but his property went to his heirs ; but when a 
man was executed for treason, his estate was for- 
feited to the crown. In those days of bloodshed 
and revolution, when the throne changed its occu- 
pants so often, and the bond of loyalty must have 
been so loose, little interest would probably have 
been excited amongst the people by the mere 
charge of treason ; at least, condemnation on that 



112 NABOTH AND AHAB. 

account alone might have been distasteful and 
unpopular. But blasphemy against God admitted 
of no indulgence ; the insulted Deity would de- 
mand the vengeance, which outrage upon the 
honour of the king would hardly then have gained. 
Yet, as the mere condemnation of Naboth to 
death was not enough, the crime must be in- 
cluded, — namely, treason to the king, — which 
would cause his property to be forfeited to Ahab. 
What a state of the times, my brethren, does 
this short but terrible history evince ! Here were 
the elders and nobles of a city, the gravest and 
most influential men of the place, corrupted by an 
infamous idolatress; drawn, with "that cursed 
woman," into the horrible guilt of wilful perjury 
and deliberate murder. Worse, too, that this 
dark tragedy was acted under the mask of re- 
ligion, and with high pretences to vindicate the 
honour of God ; introduced with a fast, to im- 
plore the Divine assistance and direction in the 
bad cause they were entering upon. What a 
mystery of iniquity have we here, where, under 
the specious colours of zeal and devotion, such a 
monstrous wickedness is committed ! In the low- 
est of the human race, hypocrisy is odious ; how 
much more so in a king, who, w T hile he punishes 
with death the counterfeiting of his seal, and the 
abusing of his image and superscription to any 



NABOTH AND AHAB. 113 

fraudulent purpose, is not ashamed to counterfeit 
the great seal of Heaven, and profane the most 
sacred things of God, to give authority and success 
to his diabolical contrivances. 

And what must we think of the moral and 
religious condition of a people, where those high 
in place and power contrived, and connived at, 
a dark and cruel conspiracy like this ! Our minds 
naturally rush back to the first revolt of Israel, 
and its punishment, — to the great religious schism, 
and its recompence ; how these beginnings of a 
great sin led to a national depravation, and to. 
national calamity. There seemed to be no good 
in Israel, since the time that Jeroboam set up the 
golden calves in Dan and Bethel ; no peace in its 
borders, since he made them to sin by their idola- 
trous and unlawful worship. 

The same causes cannot be without the same 
effects in Christian times, and amongst Christian 
people. A wicked and ungodly nation will make 
corrupt rules ; and subornation and perjury, 
fraud and cruelty, will be practised in high 
places, where the people love to have it so. 
"Where God's Church is broken up and weaken- 
ed, trampled upon and despised, the laxity of 
religious principle becomes proportionate : Di- 
vine sanctions and laws are disregarded, just as 
Divine institutions are set at nought; and the 



114: NAB0TH AND AHAB. 

tone of sound principle, and of a pure morality, 
waxes feebler, where indifference is felt, and neg- 
lect is shown, to appointments of God and reveal- 
ed duties of the faith. 

Experience and all history proves that, while 
nothing escapes the eye of the Almighty, no wick- 
edness of man will go unpunished long. — Ahab, 
we read, goes down to his coveted vineyard, the 
purchase of an innocent man's blood, to revel, if 
he can, in the dear-bought possession. But can 
we think that it was without a heavy heart, 
and an oppressive foreboding, that he turned his 
steps to Jezreel ; and that no tormenting thoughts 
crossed him, as he entered the vineyard of K~a- 
both? If eating and drinking, and noisy merri- 
ment, could drive away the spectre of that murder- 
ed man, the wretched king was not long without a 
direct communication of God's wrath, and of His 
impending judgments. He shared in the infamy 
of a cursed woman's plot, to compass the death of 
one whose possession he envied : Naboth is crush- 
ed beneath the stones of the executioners of a 
cruel conspiracy, and his blood is sprinkled around ; 
but ere it is well dry, what says the prophet of 
the Lord, — " In the place where dogs licked the 
blood of Naboth, shall dogs lick thy blood, even 
thine ; " and " the dogs shall eat Jezebel by the 
wall of Jezreel." 



NAB0TH AJSD AHAB. 115 

I need not explain how literally all this was 
fulfilled ; how within two short years, Ahab's 
blood was shed in battle, and the dogs licked it 
up at the pool of Samaria ; and how, on Jehu's 
conspiracy, the wicked Jezebel was thrown from 
an upper window, and the dogs devoured her dis- 
honoured body on the spot. 

It is true that there was a short respite to 
Ahab from a portion of the judgment which the 
prophet was commissioned to pronounce against 
him. Part of the threatened evil was reserved for 
his son's days, in consequence of his repentance ; 
but the righteous severity of God was, in the end, 
fully executed. 

We have a word of cheer, my brethren, in 
this merciful dealing with Ahab, because he hum- 
bled himself before the Lord. The sighing of a 
contrite heart, the sacrifice of a broken spirit, even 
this teaches us, will never be unacceptable to 
Him ; it assures us that the chief of sinners, upon 
an earnest and sincere repentance, need not de- 
spair of pardon. But we have, at the same time, 
a word of awful warning, in the threatening of the 
Divine judgment at the first, and its execution at 
the last. Such sins as Ahab sold himself to com- 
mit, can never be lightly forgiven; and if the 
heaviest blow of retribution reached not himself, 
it did not fail to fall upon his son. 



116 NAB0TH AND AHAB. 

In tliis latter assurance, there is something in- 
expressibly affecting. The child unborn, the lit- 
tle innocent that knows not the distinction be- 
tween right and wrong, may, for a father's crimes, 
be in after years a grievous sufferer. "Well may 
it be asked, Could you endure to surrender your 
unoffending offspring to a thief and a murderer, 
to have their goods spoiled, their limbs mangled, 
their blood poured out ? Then take care not to 
commit those sins yourselves, and treasure up the 
guilt for them ; do not allow or indulge them in 
the crimes which will lead to such a fate. If you 
oppress others, you are raising up an oppressor for 
your own child. If you supplant others in their 
property, if you wrest fraudulently or violently from 
them their means of livelihood, you are sapping 
the foundation of your own house. If by direct 
violence, or a false testimony, you touch the life 
of another, you are arming the Divine vengeance 
with a sword for your own child. Possibly you 
may not live to see it ; but look at the present his- 
tory, and see what Ahab's house suffered after his 
death, and do not mingle so bitter a cup for any 
of your posterity. 

God forbid, every parent will say, that any 
should suffer, in those dear and precious to us, 
this awful penalty of our crimes. Let there be 
watchfulness then, and a steady looking unto 



NAB0TH ANB AHAB. 117 

Jesus. Let there be a close adherence to the 
Lord's side, that the enemy may have no advan- 
tage over us. In his fold only can we be safe ; 
through the sanctifying aid of the Holy Spirit 
alone, can we resist the temptation to such griev- 
ous sins against God. Though we rightly ask, 
" "Who is sufficient for these things ; " yet can we 
say, for our support and consolation, " if God be 
for us, who can be against us ? " 



LECTURE Vm. 

§fte $tomammit* and tier &tm. 



LECTUKE YIIL 

THE SHTTNAMMITE AND HER SON. 

2 Kings iv. 18, 19, 20. — "And when the child was grown, it 
fell on a day that he went out to his father to the reapers. And 
he said unto his father, My head, my head. And he said to a lad, 
Carry him to his mother. And when he had taken him, and 
brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then 
died" 

Oke great beauty and excellence of the Scrip- 
ture narratives which all of us must have felt, is 
their remarkable adaptation to the ordinary cir- 
cumstances of life. They are no studiously 
wrought, fictitious tales, designed to awaken a 
momentary interest or gratify a passing curiosity ; 
but they are plain, touching stories of actual life, 
indited in days of great simplicity, when the heart 
spoke out its joys or sorrows without warp or fet- 
ter from artificial customs. And so their un- 
adorned and genuine lessons can reach and edify, 
and comfort the spirit of man in every age ; hum- 
ble him, and teach him submission in his hour of 



122 THE SHUNAMMITE AND HER SON. 

prosperity and pride ; and soothe and cheer him 
in his days of sadness and mourning. 

Not one of the least touching and instructive 
of such narratives is that which the text brings to 
view, — the short, but interesting history of the 
Shunammite and her son. An important person- 
ag'e in the story is the illustrious prophet Elisha. 
He, in his journeyings through the land of Israel 
in the execution of high and important duties, 
came to Shunem, a city in the tribe of Issachar, 
where was a woman of great substance, rich, and 
abounding in the good things of this world. But 
although thus blessed as to temporal possessions, 
she was not, as the narrative shews, without 
thought and anxiety for the better treasures of a 
better world. She knew, too, the value of Israel's 
distinguished prophet, and sought to benefit by 
his bright example and his holy counsels. She 
constrained him, therefore, to accept her hospital- 
ity ; and, not content with a passing visit from the 
" man of God," she provided for him within her 
abode a permanent resting-place : she annexed to 
her dwelling a " prophet's chamber," where, as 
often as he passed, he might stop and refresh him- 
self, and, as the pious Shunammite believed, bring 
a blessing upon her house. 

It is comforting, my brethren, to feel that, even 
in these artificial and unbelieving days, we are not 



THE SHUNAMMITE AND HER SON. 123 

without marked and refreshing examples of hospi- 
tality and honour to the servants and ambassadors 
of the Lord. It is cheering to discover that they, 
in their necessary journeyings, find many to wel- 
come and befriend them, — many to help them on 
their way, and smooth to them the often rugged 
path of duty. And this is the more gladdening 
and acceptable as a test of the believer's love, — 
the evidence of a desire to gain the blessing of the 
prophet's prayers and ensure from the prophet's 
God the protection, strength, and grace which 
only God can give. 

Such was the motive, and such the recompense 
of the woman of Shunem. Elisha, moved by her 
regard and kindness, sends to her, and says, " Be- 
hold, thou hast been careful for us with all this 
care ; what is to be done for thee ? Wouldest thou 
be spoken for to the king or the captain of the 
host ? " Was there, in a word, any favour or ad- 
vantage which he, from his influence in the high- 
est places, could gain for her ? — Her answer is re- 
markable and instructive, " I dwell among mine own 
people." And happier there than in the circles of 
the gay, or the palaces of the great. Dearer to her 
were the walls and dwellings of her own little town 
than the glare and grandeur of the far off courtly 
city ; dearer her native hills and valleys than the 
furbished scenery of pomp and wealth ; dearer far 



124: THE SHUNAMMITE AND HER SON. 

the society of the kinsfolk and friends of early- 
years, than the bustle and pageantry of a crowd 
who knew her not and cared not for her. No, her 
heart is set upon her childhood's home ; nor will 
she, for any dazzling dream of ambition, part with 
the sunny spot where her purest and happiest days 
have been spent. She can leave to their nothing- 
ness the visions conjured up by the mention of 
" the king " and " the captain of the host," inter- 
ceded with by so powerful a pleader as Elisha ; 
and, in an honest and humble appreciation of 
God's past bounties, she is content to "dwell 
among her own people." 

But there is a blank in her home where yet 
the sympathies and the might of the prophet can 
reach her : there was no child there, to inherit her 
fortunes or transmit her name. This was a boon 
which probably she believed that God in His 
wisdom had decreed to withhold; and though 
there may have been many secret yearnings of the 
heart for the priceless treasure, it had been denied 
so long that she had perhaps ceased to touch upon 
it even in her prayers. But the richest blessings, 
like the heaviest trials, come often when they are 
least anticipated. The prophet prayed to God, 
and the child was granted. 

There were bright and happy years after that. 
The child grew in stature and in wisdom, and un- 



THE SHUNAMMITE AND HER SON. 125 

der the prophet's tuition, we can believe also in 
piety, grace, and goodness. About that cherished 
plant, so emphatically of the Lord's planting, 
there was all that was beautiful and engaging. 
He was the pride of the Shunammite's house ; and 
it can be believed that the great Elisha felt to- 
wards him more than the love and interest of a 
spiritual father. 

But perhaps in the parent's contemplation of 
his growing ripeness and beauty, there were some 
minglings of the alloy of this world. The soul, 
from its becoming sense of joy and thankfulness 
to God, may have slidden into a secret idolatry ; 
and, in the many speculations of a fond yet way- 
ward heart, there may have been an occasional 
momentary forgetfulness that what was man's 
treasure was also God's gift. 

The heart is made better when, by a chasten- 
ing from heaven, it is assured of this error. The 
little son of the Shunammite, in an unexpected 
hour, is cut off in the midst of his sports and play- 
fulness. The flower, in the fulness of its bloom 
and beauty, is severed at a stroke. There is no 
premonitory languor, no gradual decay ; but in an 
instant, at one sweep of the destroyer, the fair 
plant is prostrated and dies. But few cries escape 
the little sufferer ; the low, faint moaning is soon 
hushed in death. The assiduities of maternal care 



126 THE SHUNAMMITE AND HER SON. 

avail not; the appliances of medical skill cannot 
avert the blight of the death-stroke. Lingering, 
where in health and strength and playfulness he 
loved most to linger, he sighs his life away upon 
his mother's knees. 

"We shall not, my brethren, calculate upon all 
the sorrow of this Shunammite woman. If the 
fountains of grief were broken up, — if her tears 
flowed fresh and fast, — if the heart beat heavily in 
its distress, was there not a cause ? But her faith 
forsook her not, though grief oppressed her ; she 
remembered whence the treasure was gained, and 
she looked back, in the might of her confidence, 
to the all-powerful and merciful Giver. Not stop- 
ping to ease her full heart by the outpourings of 
a natural sorrow, she flies to the prophet, that she 
may gain, through his intercession, what she was 
too mean and unworthy to solicit directly herself. 

And even to the man of God this was an un- 
expected blow. He, perhaps, in his hopes and 
aspirations for that fair child, the special gift of 
the Almighty, may have had his spiritual feelings 
marred and clouded. His thoughts may have 
travelled on to " the king," and " the captain of 
the host," in connection with the prospects of this 
cherished son of the Shunammite; and possibly 
the glitter and prosperity of the world may, in 
his high-wrought wishes and expectations, have 



THE SHUNAMMITE AND HER SON. 127 

gained some occasional precedence over the gifts 
and graces of a child of God. So he, too, was 
made to feel the peril of an earth-stained heart ; 
and the agony of a mysterious delay was inter- 
posed, before he could prevail with God for the 
restoration of this departed child. 

Delay, however, in the bestowal of supplicated 
blessings is designed to render the spirit more 
trustful and patient, — not to break or crush it, in 
despair of a peaceful answer from the mercy-seat. 
We have but to persevere in order to succeed ; 
we have but to wrestle on to gain the blessing. 
The prophet prayed, and struggled in prayer; 
and at last, — his petition granted to the full, — he 
was enabled to say to the woman of Shunem, 
" Take up thy son." 

We can understand, my brethren, the effect 
of this change in the lately lone and sad house of 
the Shunammite ; how a calm and chastened joy 
and thankfulness would take the place of the 
melancholy and desolation which so recently had 
reigned there. But perhaps, in making a personal 
application of it, there may be a sinking of the 
heart in contemplating the utter hopelessness of 
ourselves experiencing a similar change. No pro- 
phet's staff, no prophet's prayers can now bring 
life to the departed ; and when we gaze upon the 
cut-off flower of promise, there would be presump- 



128 THE SHUNAMMITE AND HER SON. 

tion in the hope that God, through any human 
intercession, would yield it back again to cheer 
and bless us. But if we do not live in the days 
of miracle, we live in the days of promise. By 
and by, in God's good time, there will be this res- 
toration of the dead to life : we have the Saviour's 
words, the Saviour's works, to assure us of it. 
More than once, to alleviate the breaking heart 
and rouse the spirit bowed too deeply down, our 
compassionate Eedeemer, by a single word of 
power, called back the dead to life ; and lest his 
own soul-cheering promise, " I am the resurrection 
and the life, .... whosoever believeth in me, 
though he were dead, yet shall he live," — lest this 
should fail of all its comfort to the bereaved and 
mourning, He himself broke from the strong grasp 
of the destroyer, and proclaimed, for the assurance 
and consolation of every age till " time shall be no 
more," the completeness of his victory over this 
"last enemy." So then of the departed we may 
say, in his own heart-soothing words, " She is not 
dead, but sleepeth." 

And if there should be interposed between 
this promise and its fulfilment what we, in our 
weakness, might count a wearying delay, it is to 
ourselves a wise and profitable remembrance of 
our pilgrim state. God is patient and long-suifer- 
ing with us ; and we often need a more awakening 



THE SHUNAMMITE AND HER SON. 129 

lesson than the counsels of His written word, to 
teach us patience also. It is well thus to learn to 
live more by faith and less by sight ; to refer our 
hopes and destiny with a more child-like temper 
of submission to the will of God ; to show less of 
self-seeking and self-pleasing ; to be, in view of 
our Creator and Redeemer, more confiding, trust- 
ful and dependent. 

But was the Shunammite wise in seeking so 
early— so prematurely, we may almost say — the 
realization of the never-failing promises of God ? 
Was she wise in asking back the withdrawn trea- 
sure of her precious child, before the morning of 
that glorious day, when, at the summons of the 
Archangel's trumpet, earth and sea should yield 
up their dead, — the righteous and faithful to be 
clothed then with pure and imperishable bodies ? 
Was it wise to wish to snatch him back, just as 
the brightness of the paradise of God was break- 
ing on his view, and he was catching the first 
echoes of the angel's never-ending song % Was 
it wise to ask an exchange for him from bright- 
ness and peace and bliss like this, to wander once 
more a pilgrim and a stranger on the dull, pollut- 
ed soil of earth ! And what peril was there, too, in 
that exchange ! There must grow on, with child- 
hood's growth, to youth and thence to maturity of 
manhood, the strong and evil passions of our fall- 

6* 



130 THE SHCTNAMMITE AND HER SON. 

en nature, — the fiercer conflict with, a wicked and 
a tempting world, — the harder struggle with a 
wayward heart within, the stronger contest w T ith 
unnumbered foes without. And then there may 
have been the fall from affluence and comfort to 
poverty and woe, — persecutions, perhaps, from 
kings and captains of the host, luring, worse than 
all, to Baal's idol-w T orship, — captivity, perchance, 
and its thousand trials, with haughty conquerors 
of the land, — a separation, worse than death, be- 
tween child and mother, — disease and all its com- 
plicated wretchedness in a far off hostile country, 
■ — the failing frame, the sinking energies, life's sad 
decline, and death at last, — all these were woes 
which possibly a re -entrance into life brought on. 
Oh better far, then, to leave in the bosom of his 
Father and his God, the dear child of promise 
which He, in very mercy, had taken to himself. 
Better there, secure in that boundless love, than 
to be buffeted on by life's dangerous storms ; hap- 
pier in that refuge of peace than in the warm, 
though weak, protection of the most loving and 
devoted upon earth. 

But, my brethren, in our acknowledged con- 
solations under God's severest chastenings, let us 
not be unmindful that there is a pilgrimage and 
a warfare still before us; that, come joy or sor- 
row, we are pledged to the work of the Lord's 



THE SHUNAMMITE AND HER SON. 131 

vineyard, and must not, in barren contemplation, 
stand still or be idle. Let, then, the history we 
have been reviewing teach us, — 

I. The duty, according to the Divine com- 
mand, of bringing up children in " the nurture 
and admonition of the Lord," because that can be 
to us the only security that they will " die in the 
Lord." God's own word provides how, from the 
first dawn of infancy, they may become His adopt- 
ed children, and be assured of His grace and bless- 
ing ; in that we are taught to bring them to Christ, 
to enroll them under His standard, to make them 
His soldiers and servants. By baptism, they are 
introduced into the Lord's family, placed under 
His special protection, — with a pledge and earn- 
est of His imparted and continued grace. Never, 
then, let us forget the exalted nature of this high 
privilege ; but strive by our lessons, our example, 
and our prayers, to keep them worthy members 
of that holy household, — to make their after-life 
consistent with that good beginning, — and so to 
train, and teach, and counsel them, that, when the 
work of this weary world has closed, they may be 
found on the Lord's side still ; and, safe in His em- 
brace and strong in His protection, may be wafted 
across death's gloomy river to the Canaan of ever- 
lasting rest and glory. Beware, my brethren, in 
the worldliness and selfishness of a much tempted 



132 THE SHUNAMMITE AND HER SON. 

heart, of ever losing sight of this their high herit- 
age and heavenly destiny. Look with a wary 
eye across the thorns and perils of the world, and 
keep a steadfast view of the eternity beyond. Re- 
member that every child is an heir to immortality ; 
and for that changeless, boundless existence train 
them tip. Look, with a Christian's dutiful indif- 
ference, upon the vanities and follies, the pomps 
and pleasures of the world, on which so great a 
stress is, alas, too widely laid. To these toys and 
trifles of the hour assign their proper place : the 
business of the Christian life, the aspiring after 
heaven, the contest for the crown of glory, forbid 
a devotion of the soul to these mean and perish- 
able vanities. God's law and will, the great atone- 
ment of the Saviour, knowledge of the truth in 
Jesus, man's native wickedness, the w T ork of grace, 
and practical application of the Spirit's influences, 
— these are themes for the enlisted warrior of the 
cross ; not the calculations for earthly aggrandize- 
ment, — not plans and schemes for wealth and 
greatness, for worldly show, for the hollow pomp 
of fleet and passing time. Let the kingdom of 
God within the heart, faith unfaltering in the Sa- 
viour, the purity and peace of a godly and religious 
life, and the tranquil closing of the Christian war- 
fare, — let this be the high purpose, the never- 



THE 6HUNAMMITE AJSTD HER SON. 133 

wearying toil, the constant prayer of every Chris- 
tian parent for his child. 

II. But there presses yet upon us, as an im- 
provement from this review, another duty. "Who 
can look upon the gentle innocence of childhood, 
— exempted, as we must feel it to be by the mer- 
ciful providence of God, from the darker stains 
and harder sufferings of the world by the interpo- 
sition of an early death, — who can look on this, 
and not regard it as a counsel and a warning to re- 
member the Saviour's solemn charge, " Except ye 
be converted and become as little children, ye 
shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." 
Yes, even the most thoughtful, pains-taking, and 
religious may profit by this admonition; for at 
best we are too far off from the standard of purity 
and godliness which the word of God sets before 
us. There are, even to the most advanced and 
most watchful, clogs and impediments in the 
course of duty, — great and painful hindrances to 
the warmth, and earnestness, and singleness of de- 
votion. We have an earthly nature; and too 
often the passions and pursuits of earth mingle 
with our aspirings heavenwards,- — too often soil 
the purity of our secret communing with God, and 
defile our more public exercises of pious duty. 
May childhood's endearing example correct this 
earthliness of our nature, — may its simple guile- 



134 THE SHUNAMMITE AND HER SON. 

lessness move ns to greater singleness of purpose, 
to better purity of heart, in all we undertake and 
do ; so that, through self- watching, diligence, and 
prayer, we may go on from strength to strength in 
the struggles of our warfare, and pursue the con- 
flict with better assurance of victory in the end. 

But, my brethren, the warning is more direct 
and startling to the careless liver, the almost 
Christian, the relaxing soldier of the cross, — to 
him who does his spiritual work with negligence 
and languor ; who has little taste for the things of 
God, and who leaves undone, at the slightest bid- 
ding of the carnal heart's excuses, the service 
which a compassionate Father and Redeemer 
claims. He, in this cold indifference of a pledged 
servant of the Lord, is standing on most perilous 
ground, on the very edge of a precipice of ruin ; 
alienating Him whose favour is life, — grieving, 
quenching, expelling that blessed Spirit without 
whose quickening power our souls' energies must 
decline, our hearts' devotion perish. Duty, inter- 
est, hope, and fear persuade him to gird anew the 
loins, and trim again the waning fires, — to be a 
Christian indeed, — to look off from earth, and up 
to heaven, — to remember the latter end, the dread 
account, the judgment sentence, the doom of the 
unprofitable. 

But, more than all, does it warn and counsel 



THE SHUNAMMITE AND HER SON. 135 

those who are living too flagrantly without God in 
the world, — hardly believing, and therefore little 
moved by, the mysterious truths of the heavenly 
revelations, — planning, and toiling for, the gratifi- 
cation only of a carnal, sensual nature ; the boun- 
daries of earth the limit of the heart's desires and 
cravings, — no look towards God and heaven but 
one of awe and trembling. Poor, perishing sinner, 
it is time that you thought of God, and turned in 
penitence to Him ; it is time that you gave up the 
devices and wickedness of the world, and looked 
for joy and peace above ; it is time that you turned 
to the blood of the atonement, and sought, by 
genuine faith and true contrition, the peace of re- 
conciliation with an offended God. And oh, delay 
not your efforts for this change of surpassing joy 
and comfort ; resolve from this hour to dedicate 
yourselves again to God ; and let no mocking se- 
ductions of the unbeliever and the scoffer, no 
taunts nor jeers of the ungodly and blaspheming, 
draw you off from the chosen path of duty, — but 
follow on to know the Lord, till the Lord's peace, 
which passeth the world's best gifts and under- 
standing, is fully and securely yours. Then, when 
you come to die, you may realize even childhood's 
sweet serenity, and, in the confidence of sin for- 
given, through the Saviour's all-sufficient merits, 
may have the blest assurance that angels will con- 
vey you to the Paradise of God. 



LECTUBE IX. 

paaman the £ gmn. 



LECTUKE IX. 

NAAMAN THE SYRIAN-. 

2 Kings v. 14. — "Then went lie down, and dipped himself 
seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God ; 
and his flesh came again like the flesh of a little child, and he was 
clean." 

The person here spoken of is Naaman, captain 
of the host of the king of Syria. He was a man 
distinguished amongst his people, and the favour- 
ite of his sovereign ; an illustrious warrior, and 
prudent counsellor; courted by the great, and 
flattered by the poor ; in possession, in short, of 
all that in this world can be thought to confer 
honour, distinction, and happiness. But in the 
pride of his fame, and the glitter of his honours ; 
amidst all that his sovereign could heap upon him 
of wealth or distinction ; while he was feared and 
envied, and courted by high and low throughout 
the wide dominions of his king, we find he was 
not a happy man. " He was a leper : " this dire 



I 

140 NAAMAN THE SYRIAN. 

disease destroyed his comforts, and blighted all 
his happiness. 

Of the disease of leprosy we read enough in 
the word of God, without reverting to other 
sources of information, to assure us of its loath- 
some and afflictive character. It seems to have 
been a malady peculiar to Eastern countries ; and, 
looking at its fearful and distressing character, we 
may well feel thankfulness to God that it is un- 
known amongst ourselves. What aggravated the 
calamity to those unhappily affected by it, was 
the very prevalent belief that it was an incurable 
disease : it was thought to be a direct visitation 
from the hand of God ; and the direct interposi- 
tion of God, it was believed, could alone remove 
it. Baffling all human skill, it left its wretched 
subject broken in spirit as well as distressed in 
body; and under his complicated sufferings, he 
scarcely dared to indulge the hope that, on this 
side the grave, his affliction could be lightened or 
removed. 

The unhappy leper, too, from the infectious 
character of his disease, was shunned by all ; and 
where the law, as in the case of the Jews, inter- 
posed its enactments, he became an outcast from so- 
ciety, as much from the requirements of religion 
as from the loathsome nature of the malady itself. 
Family and friends, the nearest and the dearest, 



NAAMAN THE SYRIAN. • 141 

all shrunk from the contamination of his touch. 
At home, in his native land, amongst kinsfolk and 
acquaintance, he was an exile and a stranger; 
driven from the domestic hearth, repelled from 
the sanctuary of prayer. The endearments of 
home were lost to him ; and he was debarred, too, 
from the higher and holier consolations of religion. 
There was no friendly voice to greet him, no in- 
tercourse of sympathy to soothe him ; and, worse 
deprivation than all, he could not mingle with his 
brethren in worshipping the God of his fathers, 
nor join his supplicating voice with theirs, that the 
Lord of heaven would look upon the afflicted, and 
heal their diseases, and remove their sufferings. 

This, with perhaps the exceptions of a reli- 
gious character which might not apply to the case 
of a heathen and an idolater, was the condition of 
the exalted and powerful captain of the host of 
the king of Syria. We can believe that, in his 
case, every human means had been employed to 
remove the foul plague, and effect his cure ; but 
all appear to have been exerted in vain. The skill 
of man failed to reach the seat of the disease ; and, 
exhausted by fruitless and hopeless efforts, he 
must leave the cure to some more sovereign 
" balm," and more powerful " physician." 

The providence and goodness of God inter- 
posed, where man was impotent. A little maiden. 



142 NAAMAN THE SYRIAN. 

carried away captive from lier native land of Is- 
rael, was at this time an inmate of the house of 
Naaman: she knew of the fame of Elisha, the 
great prophet of Israel ; and, in concern for her 
master's sufferings, and confidence in the prophet's 
superhuman power, she said to her mistress, 
"Would God my Lord were with the prophet 
that is in Samaria, for he would recover him of 
his leprosy ! " 

Though a captive and a stranger, this little 
maiden was not despised ; and the monarch of a 
mighty empire acts upon the information she con- 
veyed. The humblest and the poorest are often, 
in God's hand, the agents of the richest blessings ; 
and there are none so lowly and insignificant, who 
may not communicate the most gladdening tidings, 
and be instruments of conferring the costliest boon. 
It shows that all may be useful, — all, in some de- 
gree, influential in that condition in which God 
has placed them ; and that the one humble talent 
which He may be pleased to confer, may be 
turned to a profitable account, and made to re- 
dound to His glory. 

The king of Syria, anxious for the cure of his * 
favourite servant, and desirous to ensure the ser- 
vices of the far-famed prophet, sends a magnifi- 
cent embassy to the king of Israel, loaded with 
costly presents ; thinking that there was no pro- 



NAAMAN THE SYRIAN. 143 

phet in his dominions, who was not under his ab- 
solute control. The king of Israel, misunderstand- 
ing the purport of this message, and supposing 
that the Syrian monarch expected from himself 
the miraculous cure of his servant, was struck 
with mingled sensations of indignation and alarm. 
He rent his clothes, and exclaimed, " Am I a God, 
to kill and make alive, that this man doth send 
unto me to recover a man of his leprosy ? where- 
fore, consider, I pary you, and see how he seeketh 
a quarrel against me." 

The whole matter speedily reaches the ears of 
Elisha. He blames the hasty conduct of his king, 
and reminds him that there was at least one true 
prophet in Israel, whom God had invested with 
power to cure even this inveterate disease. " Let 
him come now to me," he says, " and he shall 
know that there is a prophet in Israel." 

With all the pomp and grandeur of a warrior 
and a courtier, "Naaman came with his horses 
and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the 
house of Elisha." But the man of God does not 
think fit to countenance these exhibitions of 
worldly pomp. He would have this Syrian to be- 
lieve that the cure, if his faith would allow it to be 
effected, was the work of God alone ; that an 
agency the simplest, and to human eye the most 
contemptible, was employed to bring it about; 



144 NAAMAN THE SYRIAN. 

that neither fear nor favour was instrumental in 
procuring it ; that riches and honours had no in- 
fluence upon the prophet's mind ; that God's glory 
was all he sought for. Desiring, then, to make 
Naaman feel that God was every thing, and him- 
self nothing in the work, — to cause him to ascribe 
his cure to a heavenly agency alone, and turn him, 
if possible, from superstition and idolatry to serve 
the living God, — Elisha will hold no personal in- 
tercourse with him, but merely sends a messenger 
with this prescription, " Go and w T ash in Jordan 
seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, 
and thou shalt be clean." 

The context shows how much of the world's 
vainglory was in the thoughts and spirit of Naa- 
man. He is indignant at the prophet's message; 
and vents his rage in the very tone which the 
prophet foresaw, and which he was desirous to 
subdue, — " Behold, I thought he will surely come 
out to me, and call upon the name of the Lord 
his God, and strike his hand over the place, and 
recover the leper." — So that, if he desired the 
cure of his disease, he could not lose sight of his 
own greatness and importance : his high standing 
and fame, his wide-spread honours, his boundless 
influence, all these must be recognized at the same 
time that his leprosy was cured. And then for the 
meanness and humiliation of the stipulated means 



NAAMAN THE SYRIAN. 145 

of recovery, — "Are not Abana and Pharpar, 
rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of 
Israel ? May I not wash in them, and be clean ? " 

Yet Naainan, with all his pride and unreason- 
ableness, was not deaf to counsel ; and, in a calmer 
moment, he listened to the expostulations of his 
faithful servants. " My father, if the prophet had 
bid thee do some great thing, wouldst thou not 
have done it? how much rather, then, when he 
saith to thee, Wash, and be clean?" Had the 
prophet insisted upon the employment of the 
most nauseous medicines, the severest regimen, 
the most painful operations, the most burdensome 
services of religion ; had he commanded a distant 
and weary pilgrimage, or exacted large treasures 
of money, — would he not have complied ? How 
much more simple and easy, then, at the prophet's 
bidding to wash in the little river Jordan, and 
be clean? 

Looking off, then, from himself to the God of 
the prophet, — exercising faith, instead of requir- 
ing to be dazzled by sight, he employs the pre- 
scribed means of cure ; and "having washed 
seven times in Jordan, according to the saying 
of the man of God, his flesh came again, like unto 
the flesh of a little child, and he was clean." 

This is the simple record of Naaman's disease 
and cure ; — let us now, my brethren, endeavour 



146 NAAMAN THE SYRIAN. 

to draw from the history some practical improve- 
ment. 

We look, first, at the wretched and pitiable 
condition, the foulness and defilement, of the out- 
cast leper: in his state, then, let us behold, in a 
spiritual view, the picture of our own. For what 
is our nature, so deeply stained by sin, — what the 
corruption of the wayward and rebellious heart, 
— what the evil imaginations of unrenewed man, 
— what the disease of our moral frame, the malady 
of our spiritual life, — what is all this but a leprosy 
fouler, deeper, more incurable, than that loath- 
some malady which drove the Israelite of old be- 
yond the precincts of the camp ; expelled him from 
the society of his brethren; and made him an 
exile from the courts of the house of the Lord ? 

Yes, in the sin of our nature, in the corruption 
we have inherited by the fall, in the taint and in- 
fection communicated to our spiritual being, — we 
are lepers in the sight of God. Thrust away from 
the light of His presence, and the smiles of His 
favour; outcast, friendless, and deserted, — there, 
in our desolation and misery, we are doomed to 
wander and mourn, wretched in life and hope- 
less for eternity. But the leper, the sin-stained 
w r ork of His hands, God could still look upon with 
pity and love, and He provided for him a cleansing 
and cure. The taint was deep, the infection loath- 



NAAMAN THE SYRIAN. 147 

some and wide-spread ; and it must cost mucli to 
remove it. Nothing less than the blood of an 
Infinite Being could remove it. The Son of God 
must make the offering of himself for our cleans- 
ing; no inferior sacrifice, no humbler expiation 
could be accepted. And this was done. The 
victim bled ; the immaculate Lamb of God was 
slain ; the incarnate Deity suffered and died upon 
the accursed tree. Then was the leper, through 
the application of that blood, cleansed and ac- 
cepted, — the sentence against him was revoked, 
— the doom of exile recalled. No more need the 
repelling words, " Unclean, unclean," be wrung 
from him ; but he can approach with boldness to 
the throne of grace, "his heart sprinkled from 
an evil conscience, and his body washed with 
pure water." 

But here, alas, the very subjects of this dear- 
bought and gracious recovery manifest too often 
the conduct of Naaman in the history before 
us. The manner of our deliverance from sin and 
its fatal effects, " Jesus Christ and him cruci- 
fied," has often proved as startling to mankind, as 
mortifying to their worldly pride, as the proposal 
of Elisha to Naaman. To the Jews of old, this 
method of redemption was a " stumbling-block ; " 
by the Greeks, it was accounted " foolishness." 
The one looked for a conqueror, and not a mar- 



148 NAAMAN THE SYRIAN. 

tyr, — for a prince encompassed with the trappings 
of greatness and glory, and not " a man of sorrows 
and acquainted with grief." The other despised 
the simplicity of the Gospel scheme, because it 
was without the parade of human learning and 
skill ; because it wanted the adornings of science, 
and exhibited not the devices and attractions of 
man's understanding. 

But if these prejudices of Jews and Gentiles 
have passed away, is not the simplicity of the 
Gospel cure for sin a " stone of stumbling " still 
to many of the self-esteeming of the world % Does 
not the littleness of the human understanding pre- 
sume even yet to exalt itself above the all-wise 
counsels of Heaven ? Are not the vain imagina- 
tions of men prone to set up a more cunning 
scheme of redemption than the mighty God, 
whose understanding is infinite? Without stop- 
ping to argue with these, let it suffice to say, that 
as the prophet designed to bring down the high 
thoughts of Naaman, in proposing to him so simple 
and yet so extraordinary a manner of recovery ; 
so, in the Gospel plan of redemption, man, the sub- 
ject of the heavenly cure, is taught to cast away 
his fancied wisdom, and come, in the humbleness 
and simplicity of a little child, to the appointed 
remedy. 

How forcibly, too, does the conduct of ISTaa- 



NAAMAN THE SYRIAN. 149 

man remind ns of another sin, so common in these 
times, of despising the ordinances of God, be- 
cause to human sight and perception they appear 
simple and unimportant. Both the holy Sacra- 
ments, of Baptism, and the Lord's Supper, come 
often under this irreverential neglect and derision. 
The washing of water, it is presumptuously argued, 
cannot reach the sin of the soul ; the communion 
of bread and wine cannot bring Christ's presence 
amongst us. They are "beggarly elements," it 
is contended : sign and show, without life, or 
grace. 

The washing in Jordan was just as contempt- 
ible to Naaman. Had he refused to do so, in his 
preference for the rivers of Damascus, would his 
cure have been effected ? And if men refuse the 
appointed entrance into the Christian covenant by 
the baptismal sacrament, will the Lord accept 
and pardon them ? If they draw off from the 
sacramental commemoration of His death in the 
Lord's Supper, will He vouchsafe to them the 
grace and strength so necessary for their Christian 
progress and satisfaction ? 

Again, let us observe the great results to Naa- 
man from his obedience to the Divine appoint- 
ment, — " his flesh came again like unto the flesh of 
a little child." — And so, my brethren, must the 



150 NAAMAN THE SYRIAN. 

Christian, if he would act up to the meaning and 
the privileges of his high vocation, become in a 
moral and spiritual sense as a " little child." The 
guileless temper, the simplicity and singleness 
of spirit, the meekness, docility and dependence, 
which are characteristics of a " little child," must 
mark the Christian who looks to the holy, harm- 
less Lamb of God for the remission of sins and the 
hope of glory. This must be the aspiration of 
those who are partakers of the " high calling of 
God in Christ Jesus ; " this the proof of the renew- 
ing influences of the Spirit. The proud heart 
must be subdued, the wayward disposition check- 
ed, worldly longings repressed, the love of God 
increased. Meekness and humility, teachableness 
of temper and poorness of spirit, must take the 
place of presumptuous imaginations and of worldly 
cravings. There must be a growing indifference 
to the delights of time, and a longing for the joys 
and peace of eternity. The heart must be given, 
in the pure love of a child, to our heavenly Fa- 
ther ; the cross must be cheerfully borne, when 
our Saviour wills it, through evil and through 
good report. 

If there be no evidence, my brethren, of such 
a spirit, — no proof of such a temper wrought in 
us, we are content, it is to be feared, with the 



NAAMAK THE SYRIAN. 151 

" stony heart." Tliere may be the form and pro- 
fession ; but the grace and godliness are absent. 
There may have been a resort to the waters of 
baptism, — an appeal to the mystical banquet of 
the body and blood of the Lord ; but if our spirit 
be not that of a " little child " in pureness and 
trustfulness, then is our faith deficient, our profes- 
sion empty and unprofitable. We must appeal, 
then, with a renewed earnestness, to the efficacy 
of the Redeemer's cleansing blood ; we must pray, 
with redoubled fervour, for God's renewing grace ; 
we must strive, with increasing diligence, to "inake 
our calling and election sure." 

For to stand still, to hold a neutral position, 
to faint in our warfare, to relax in our strug- 
gles, — is to yield the victory to the enemy of 
souls. We shall go backward, if we do not 
advance ; religion, if it be not with us the " one 
thing needful," will soon become comparatively 
nothing. 

Would God, then, we could be made to feel 
the misery of our plague, and be sensible of the 
leprosy of the soul that affects us all ! And would 
God, when we felt this disease in our inmost heart, 
we could resort, with full and childlike faith, to 
Him who is our " righteousness, and sanctification, 
and redemption," — apply again and again to the 
efficacy of the precious blood which was shed to 



152 NAAMAN THE SYRIAN. 

save ns ? — approach Him daily and hourly in peni- 
tence and faith, — shun the pollutions from which 
by His blood we are cleansed, — grow in grace and 
holiness until this mortal combat is closed, and 
we shall, at the trumpet's call on the judgment 
day, " wake up after His likeness." 



LECTURE X. 



LECTUKE X. 

THE SICKNESS OF KING HEZEKIAH. 

2 Kings xx. 1. — "In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. 
And the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz, came to him, and said 
unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order ; for thou 
shalt die, and not live." ■ 

A national affliction, we read, had burdened 
the soul and rent the heart of Hezekiah, king of 
Judah. The beloved city, and the more beloved 
temple, were environed by vast hosts of the idola- 
ters ; the strength of Israel was unequal to the 
conflict with so great an enemy ; there was no 
confidence to be placed in an arm of flesh. All 
human resources failed them, and the only hope 
of succour was in the King of kings, — even in 
Him whom they had so grievously offended by 
neglect, and transgression of His holy laws. But 
Hezekiah, in his distress, ventured to approach 
his merciful, though offended Father ; there was 
a fervent outpouring of the sorrowful soul before 
Him ; and He heard the penitent cry, and vouch- 



156 THE SICKNESS OF KING HEZEKIAH. 

safed the deliverance. By the "pestilence that 
walketh in darkness," the vast host of the As- 
syrians was destroyed, and Jerusalem was free. 

Yery transient, my brethren, is the flush of 
success and the joy of triumph. We can believe 
that its notes rang long and wildly through the 
streets of the delivered city, and that they echoed 
too throughout the palaces of the king. And 
amidst the national transport, w r e can believe that 
thankful praises to God were an universal tribute ; 
that full hearts and loud voices poured forth the 
song of gratitude to the only and Almighty De- 
liverer. But whether the stain and spirit marred 
too much these offerings ; whether the exultation 
partook too largely of vainglorious boasting, and 
the noise and glitter of the triumph excluded un- 
duly the recognition and honour of God, — it is 
certain that to Hezekiah at least the whole bright 
and joyous scene was suddenly changed. 

He became "sick unto death." — And shall we 
say that there was sternness and severity in this 
transition from health and vigour, and a nation's 
exultation, to the dreary, painful bed of mortal 
sickness ? So it would seem, if there were only this 
fleshly frame to be cared for, — the joys and com- 
forts of this tabernacle of clay alone to be secured. 
But in another aspect, there is mercy and love 
under even these hard inflictions of the Almighty 



THE SICKNESS OF KING HEZEKIAH. 157 

arm. The chastening is profitable to the soul ; and 
the withering up, and cutting short of earthly satis- 
factions, may be a means in God's hand of work-- 
ing out a brighter and happier destiny to our im- 
mortal being. 

Who knows, too, but that Hezekiah may have 
offended in some special way, to call for this 
wholesome correction from above ? From a 
scene in his after life, when, with a blameable 
pride, he exhibited his treasures to the king of 
Babylon, we may infer that there was in him too 
much of the infusion of that empty vanity, which 
leads to self-reliance and forgetfulness of God. 
And there was, no doubt, need that he should be 
weaned from this ostentation and self-trusting, and 
brought back to duty in a way that could not be 
mistaken. The blow, therefore, came that his 
spirit might be corrected, and his heart made 
better ; sickness laid him low, that, in assurance 
of the body's weakness, the soul might be cared 
for as that which never dieth. 

" Set thine house in order," was the stern voice 
of the Lord's prophet, " for thou shalt die, and not 
live." There was to be an end, then, with him 
of the pageantry of life, — a termination to all its 
enjoyments ; and soon he must stand at the bar, 
where an account is to be given of the high stew- 
ardship with which he had been intrusted. 



158 THE SICKNESS OF KIXG HEZEKTAH. 

But pause a moment, my brethren, and im- 
agine such a summons to be addressed to any one 
of yourselves, "Thou shalt die." Are you ready, 
— have you been preparing yourselves for such a 
voice from Him that cannot lie ( And what would 
be your sensations when it came I To part with 
the world, and its pleasures, and its fascinations, 
— this were nothing : the short-lived things of a 
brief existence might be surrendered all without 
a pang. But there is a something beyond, — the 
mysterious and everlasting future, which makes 
the soul shudder as its boundary is reached, and 
its terrible secrets must be unveiled. And has it 
been the work of life, you would then ask, to se- 
cure the blessedness which is promised to the re- 
deemed, and avert the misery which must be ex- 
perienced eternally by those who are unreconciled 
to God I 

When the terrible voice proclaims, "Thou 
shalt die," there will rise up in long and dread ar- 
ray the deeds, and words, and thoughts of all the 
life. And well you may ask what sort of retrospect 
this will be to you. How have von been living, 
what have you been doing to secure an interest 
in Christ I Have you been that " peculiar people, 
zealous of good works," which your Christian pro- 
fession insists upon I Have you M lived soberly, 
righteously, and godly," — taken up your cross and 



THE SICKNESS OF KING HEZEKIAH. 159 

followed Christ through good and evil report, — 
loved His cause and service, — in a word, neg- 
lected not the great salvation which His blood 
hath purchased? Or, when the death-summons 
comes, must conscience tell you that you have 
cared for none of these things, — that religion with 
you has been an empty and unreal thing, — that 
the world, and not God, has had your heart's de- 
votion, — that spiritual duty has been with you a 
formality and a mockery, what you have had no 
care for, no delight in, — that you have been stran- 
gers too much to his holy house, strangers to the 
banquet of the Lord's body and blood, strangers 
to all that could draw you to, and retain you in, 
communion with Him? What a retrospect, what 
a life to look back upon, when the voice comes, 
" Thou shalt die ! " 

O have you never, my brethren, thought of 
the possibility of such a summons, — nor felt alarm 
in the apprehension that it might come to you un- 
prepared ? Have you never been trying to realize 
to yourselves the terribleness of such a call, — the 
awfulness of hearing it, if you should be compelled 
to say and feel that every thing belonging to God 
and your Saviour has been grievously neglected ? 
What a warning, then, to obey the counsel, " Set 
thine house in order," — before the death-stroke 
reaches you, and the eternal destiny be sealed and 



160 THE SICKNESS OF KING HEZEKIAH. 

irrevocable ! " Set thine house in order," — enter 
at once upon your high and solemn duties as a 
Christian, and do not wait till sickness paralyzes 
you and death is at the door. And be persuaded 
to do so, because you may not have the respite 
even of sickness, — not even this little delay be- 
tween the last summons and the eternity into 
which it bears you. There are many, you know, 
cut off in the fulness of health and vigour, — 
called at once to their great account, without the 
warning of sickness, a moment to prepare, or time 
even for a petition to heaven for mercy. We have 
such awful instances, — the realization of what we 
are taught so steadily to pray against, "sudden 
death." We see the young, and lusty, and strong 
smitten down by a blow, — life extinguished in an 
instant, — no opportunity for a last greeting, or a 
last farewell, — not a word that can be spoken of 
God and his mercy, of the Saviour and his love ; 
but the stillness of death at once, the mysterious 
and impenetrable future entered upon without 
forethought or preparation. 

To all the living, then, how fearful and start- 
ling is the warning, " Set thine house in order." 
Be ready for the last summons, — make your peace 
with God through the merits of the Saviour : wait 
not, delay not, — there is not a moment to be lost. 
" Thou shalt die," — and thy anxiety should be to 



IHE SICKNESS OF KING HEZEKIAH. 161 

die in peace, and secure through the blood of 
Jesus a happy immortality. 

But to look to the occasion of these words, — 
how were they received by Hezekiah ? " He 
turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the 
Lord, saying, I beseech thee, O Lord, remember 
now how I have walked before thee in truth and 
with a perfect heart, and have done that which is 
good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore." 
With his "face to the wall," — in secret com- 
munion with his God, that none might see and 
none disturb his heart's devotion, and his lips' out- 
pourings, — he prays to his heavenly Father, and 
weeps sore while he makes his fervent supplica- 
tions to the throne of grace. 

Is any sick now? Let him, in like manner, 
pray ; and let him be prayed for, and prayed with. 
Let him be prayed for, because the Apostle re- 
quires that " supplications, prayers, intercessions, 
and giving of thanks, be made for all men." ~Nor 
would this be commanded, unless it were likely 
to be available ; there must be something in this 
mutual intercession for one another, in times of 
sickness and distress, which God is pleased with, 
and which, if it were only for the act itself, He 
will graciously answer. How much, then, should 
this encourage us, in our troubles and trials, to 
adopt what holy men in all ages have practised, 



162 THE SICKNESS OF KING HEZEKIAH. 

— to ask the interceding prayers of our brethren 
when assembled together in the Lord's house ; to 
ask them to remember us when all sick persons, 
when all that are afflicted or distressed, are prayed 
for in the Church ! How much should it persuade 
us not to think of ourselves as outcast or solitary 
beings, when trouble comes upon us, but to ask 
the sympathy, and entreat the prayers of our 
brethren of the faithful ; to have, in this way, one 
current of kindness and of Christian care coursing 
through the whole brotherhood, — one bond of love 
enclasping, one tie of mutual concern and anxiety 
uniting, all that call upon the name of the Lord 
Jesus. Let no deference to mere customs of the 
world, no feeling of false shame deter you, breth- 
ren, from asking the congregation's prayers, when 
God's chastenings overtake you. In His sight 
those effectual, fervent prayers avail much ; and 
the very quickening of the pulse of mutual inter- 
est and concern for one another, manifested in this 
holy and solemn way, cannot fail to bring a re- 
freshment and a benefit to every soul that joins in 
it. 

Again, let the sick be prayed with. Let the 
voice of earnest intercession be heard by, as well 
as for him, — that his spirit may be revived, and 
his soul cheered by the sound of these hearty sup- 
plications on his behalf. And if ever there be a 



THE SICKNESS OF KING HEZEKIAH. 163 

time in which the minister of God may effectually 
interpose with those warnings and consolations 
which he is commissioned to declare, now is the 
time, — when the spirit is humbled by sickness, and 
the soul weaned off from the world to a better ap- 
preciation of the things of God. If counsel can 
take effect, if warning can influence, and the con- 
solations of religion can avail, — it will be now, 
when the world, and its bustle, and its wickedness 
is shut out, and when there will be a steadier and 
more longing desire for the home of peace in 
eternity. — And do not, I pray you, suffer the 
gracious opportunity to be lost, whenever it is in 
your power to employ it. Do not fail on such oc- 
casions to send for the minister of God, as other- 
wise he might not hear of this call for his services ; 
for if they are worth having, and are prized at all, 
they are worth the trouble of a messenger for 
them. Exhortation and prayer with the sick man 
may help, with God's blessing, to wake up in him 
a repentance which has too long slumbered, — a 
faith which has been well nigh dead. The good 
seed, which had fallen upon unpropitious soil, and 
been all but smothered by the world's thick crop 
of tares, may be quickened into life and fruit in 
this solemn and humbling season of affliction. 
The spiritual husbandry which had proved un- 
availing in the heedless, worldly days of health, 



164 THE SICKNESS OF KING HEZEKIAH. 

will tell, it may be, with a blessed influence when 
the soil of the heart is mellowed by sorrow, and 
watered with the tears of contrition. 

And, added to all, let the sick man also pray 
himself. Let him call upon God with the sincer- 
ity and earnestness which his condition of danger 
demands ; let him be fervent and undissembling in 
the confession of his sins ; let his soul's whole 
burden be poured out before God without disguise 
and without reserve ; let him pray heartily for the 
forgiveness of his many shortcomings and grievous 
misdoings ; and let him humbly ask for the ac- 
ceptance of his petitions, and of himself, for the 
sake of the Saviour whose precious blood was 
poured out upon the cross for him. Then may a 
gracious answer come to him, such as was con- 
veyed to Hezekiah, — " I have heard thy prayer, 
I have seen thy tears : behold, I will heal thee ; 
on the third day, thou shalt go up unto the house 
of the Lord." 

But recollect one thing, my brethren, in the 
case of the Jewish monarch, which was calculated 
to give wings to his hope when he called upon 
the Lord in his distress, — " I beseech thee, O Lord, 
remember now how I have walked before thee in 
truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that 
which is good in thy sight." — So that, in the days 
of sickness and sorrow, when God's hand presses 



THE SICKNESS OF KING HEZEEIAH. 165 

sore upon his stricken child, there is consolation in 
the assurance that, in the days of health, there has 
been a hearty and consistent effort to do His will, 
and lead a Christian life. And we may learn 
from this, too, how poor and unsatisfactory a thing 
it is to pray only in the day of distress, — to look 
to God only when life is ebbing to its close. It is 
a poor tribute to the Lord of all, to give Him only 
the last shreds, the parting fragments of what had 
been a useless and ungodly life. We do not say 
that the prayer even of such a reckless, careless 
sinner will not be heard at the last hours, though 
there has been but little praying and scant reli- 
gion in the past life. No, we should rather en- 
courage and urge those unhappy ones, to pray 
then the more intensely for pardon and accept- 
ance ; though there can be little assurance of hope 
to such, compared to what they experience who 
have lived as Hezekiah lived. A religious life 
will produce a happy death ; and without religion 
in the days of health, we can have but poor hope 
that there will be true consolation in sickness, and 
assured trust when we come to die. 

" On the third day thou shalt go up unto the 
house of the Lord." — This act of piety and devo- 
tion on the part of the king, was, we see, taken 
for granted ; at the moment of his recovery he 
would, to testify his thankfulness, "go up unto 



166 THE SICKNESS OF KING HEZEKIAH. 

the house of the Lord." Remember, brethren, 
the duty under similar circumstances to " do like- 
wise." When, through God's goodness, health is 
recovered, go not back again to hardness and in- 
difference ; but renew the work of religion by de- 
vout and assiduous attendance at the Lord's house. 
And it may be, too, that not a few have craved in 
sickness the comforting supper of the Lord ; do 
not, then, inconsistently neglect it in the days of 
health, — do not, by a heedless hearing of the sum- 
mons to come to that table, treat it as a duty fit 
only for the day of sorrow, and not the dutiful 
work of thankfulness for every season. It is 
" shewing forth the Lord's death until he come : " 
prove, then, at all times, — without occasional 
neglects and omissions w T hich are grievously in- 
consistent, — that the Lord's death is your only 
stay, that only they are happy who live in the 
Lord, and that they only are " blessed, who die in 
the Lord." 



LECTURE XI. 

^nadrarn, $R*stowlt, and Jlkdnejga. 



LECTUKE XL 

SHADRACH, MESHACH, AND ABEDNEG0. 

Daniel iii. 18. — " Be it known unto thee, king, that we will 
not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast 
set up." 

The character of king Nebuchadnezzar, as set 
forth in holy Scripture, was a very mixed one. 
He was easily worked upon for good or evil, — 
susceptible of strong influences either of kindly 
emotion or vindictive passion ; ambitious and des- 
potic, and at the same time of wavering mind and 
a weak judgment. 

God was pleased to reveal to him in a dream 
certain great events touching the welfare of his 
kingdom. These were so wonderful and startling, 
that they troubled him exceedingly ; but he had 
only an indistinct recollection of what thus passed 
in his sleep, and he desired not merely an inter- 
pretation of these marvellous dreams, but to have 
the very particulars of the perplexing vision 
brought accurately to his memory. 
8 



170 SHADRACH, MESHACH, AND ABEDNEGO. 

In vain did he appeal to the magicians, and 
astrologers, and sorcerers of the Chaldeans ; for 
hard as it might have boen to interpret the dreams 
themselves, it was beyond the power of man, they 
affirmed, to call up and recount all the varying 
thoughts and fancies that may have disturbed the 
king's sleep. 

A man, nevertheless, was found in his do- 
minions who could do all this. Daniel, a Hebrew 
captive, received from God a revelation of the 
whole : the dreams, therefore, were told to the 
king, and a full interpretation of them. Great 
honour and distinction to Daniel and his com- 
panions, was the consequence of this declaration 
and interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dreams : 
he was made "ruler over the whole province of 
Babylon, and chief of the governors over all the 
wise men of Babylon." 

Though not expressly stated, subsequent events 
in this history shewed with how bitter a jealousy 
this distinction and authority vouchsafed to Jews, 
was viewed by the Chaldeans ; and there is every 
ground for the belief, that the erection of the 
golden image by Nebuchadnezzar in the plain of 
Dura, was a plot of their enemies, like that subse- 
quently against Daniel, to ruin them. It was a 
contrivance by which they should be forced into 
a disobedience of the commands of the king ; and 



SHADRACH, MESHACH, AND ABEDKEGO. 171 

in a case where his national pride and personal 
vanity would be so nearly touched, the offence, as 
they knew, would be an unpardonable one, and 
visited with their utter destruction. 

We can imagine their taking advantage of the 
fact and circumstances of his dreams, and their 
telling him to belie, and set at nought, and treat 
with scorn, a prophecy which went to shew that 
his kingdom, represented by mixed and perishable 
materials, should hereafter be smitten and de- 
stroyed. Instead of merely a "head of gold," to 
which he was likened in the interpretation of the 
vision, we can believe their counselling him to 
erect an image, entirely of gold, as the represen- 
tative of Bel, the great idol of the nation. And 
so far from admitting the possibility of a kingdom, 
under such protection, being hereafter destroyed 
or broken, he should command all his subjects to 
testify the contrary by bowing down in humble 
adoration of this vast and costly image of the em- 
pire's tutelary divinity. Thus, we can understand, 
it was that there was set up, in the plain of Dura, 
an image of gold so immense and precious ; and 
that all the people of his vast dominions were bid- 
den to pay it homage. 

To ensure obedience to his despotic mandate, 
he threatens an immediate and dreadful death to 
all who dared to disobey it : " whoso falleth not 



172 SHADRACH, MESHACH, AND ABEDNEG0. 

down and worshippeth, shall the same hour be cast 
into the midst of a burning fiery furnace." To 
add solemnity to this scene of mockery, every 
known instrument of music was employed to 
breathe their various blandishments, and sound 
honour and praise to the " golden image which 
Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up." 

So far the enemies of the Hebrews were not 
disappointed in their vindictive aim. When, at 
this enticing signal, there were tens of thousands 
who paid their prostrate worship to the inanimate 
idol which the vain humour of their capricious 
sovereign had erected, there were three servants 
of the Most High God who refused that impious 
homage, with this noble remonstrance even to the 
despot who commanded it, — " Be it known unto 
thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, 
nor worship the golden image which thou hast 
set up." 

Roused to fury by this mortifying refusal the 
king commanded that the furnace prepared for 
the daring delinquents should be " heated seven 
times more than it was wont to be heated," — that, 
if possible, a sevenfold severity of punishment 
might recompence the audacious rebellion of Sha- 
drach, Meshach, and Abednego. 

But in this hour of trial and terror, God did 
not desert the children who clung to Him in love 



SH A ORACH, MESHACH, AND ABEDNEGO. 173 

and duty. He forsook not His servants, who 
were willing to encounter torture and death in 
His cause ; and so on these faithful and devoted 
champions of the truth, " the fire had no power, 
nor was a hair of their head singed, neither were 
their coats changed, nor had the smell of fire 
passed on them." They fell down unharmed 
" into the midst of the burning fiery furnace : " 
the Son of God vouchsafed His glorious presence, 
to protect and cheer them in this perilous hour ; 
and, according to the Jewish writers, they em- 
ployed themselves, in the midst of the flames, in 
singing a hymn to the honour and praise of their 
Almighty Protector. 

Bitterly, then, did the malevolence of the 
king's evil counsellors recoil upon themselves : 
the envied Hebrews escaped the death their ene- 
mies had so cruelly designed ; and the king, sensi- 
ble of the miraculous interposition on their be- 
half, loaded them with more honours and dignities 
than ever. 

But we may pass on, my brethren, to the les- 
sons taught in this narrative to ourselves. From 
what is here " written for our learning," we may 
have all the " patience, comfort, and hope," which 
the word of God is calculated so pre-eminently to 
yield. These are Christian graces, which the 
contemplation of the present history cannot fail to 



174: SHADRACH, MESHACH, AND ABEDNEG0. 

revive and freshen. The result of a courage so 
noble and a firmness so undaunted, cannot but 
awaken in Christians a renewed determination to 
"run with patience the race that is set before 
them." "When we regard the heroic constancy 
of those " who, through faith, quenched the vio- 
lence of fire," we must be urged to a heartier 
obedience of the injunction, — " whose faith fol- 
low, considering the end of their conversation." 

The days of such persecution to the children 
of God's Church are, happily, now over ; no ne- 
cessity is laid upon us to " resist unto death," in 
the struggle for the truth; we have no such " fiery 
trials " to endure, as those which duty urged upon 
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. But still 
we must not think, that our adversaries are weaker, 
or our perils less, in these days of comparative 
quiet and peace. These, though unseen, are pow- 
erful enemies ; though heard not by the outward 
ears, they speak not the less persuasively to the 
understanding and the heart. "The world, the 
flesh, and the devil," — " the lust of the flesh, the 
lust of the eye, and the pride of life," are, from 
infancy onwards, through all the stages of our 
pilgrim warfare, as pressing and as seductive as 
any mandate of the imperious Nebuchadnezzar, 
with all the pomp and charm which he could bring 
to compel obedience. 



SHADRACH, MESHACH, AND ABEDNEGO. 175 

The world, indeed, is full of enemies to our 
souls. Tyrants still exist, which elevate their 
idol pageantry for our homage and adoration ; and 
the call from them to fall down and worship, is 
more persuasive, because more subtle and insinu- 
ating, than the despotic commands of the Babylo- 
nian king. Against all these we are required to 
war and struggle : when they propose their will, 
religious duty bids us fly to our sure refuge, the 
rock of our salvation, with the resolute sentiments 
of this language, " Be it known unto thee, O king, 
that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the 
golden image which thou hast set up." 

Various are the temptations set in our way to 
win us from our allegiance to God ; various the 
guises and means under which the great adversary 
would deceive and ruin us. 

I. First, there is the tyrant and the heated 
furnace, — something to threaten and terrify us. 
Not literally so, perhaps ; but something equiva- 
lent, — something that will effect the end as well. 
By a rigid adherence to duty, in defiance of 
custom or interest ; in opposition to some stand- 
ing prejudice which error and neglect of God has 
established, — of some fashion or system, which 
the world has set up ; in bold and Christian defi- 
ance of these, we may hazard many temporal con- 
veniences, and jeopardize many earthly interests. 



176 SHADKACH, MESHACH, AND ABEDNEGO. 

Loss of influence or position, of popularity or 
fortune may follow. An lionest and unbending 
adherence to sound principle, and a conscien- 
tious maintenance of what in faith and practice 
we know to be the truth, may drive the world from 
us, and deprive us of many of its favours.. There 
may be a sacrifice of its wealth and honours ; an 
abandonment of many bright prospects to our- 
selves and those around us, — Be it so. Let all 
this wreck and ruin come, if it will ; but let there 
be no compromise of Christian principle, — no de- 
sertion of the duty that we owe to God. The loss 
and the inconvenience will be but temporary; 
and God's favour and blessing is more than a sub- 
stitute for them all. Whilst we walk through the 
furnace of the worst mortifications and trials which 
the world can heap upon us, the Son of God will 
be at our side : He will cheer us in the lone dark 
hour, and soothe us when the sorrow overclouds 
and the thorn pierces : He, too, will make us a 
way to escape ; and, as in the case of the holy 
men in the text, even enemies will praise and 
honour and reward what before they reviled and 
persecuted. 

II. Again, when there is the tyranny of fashion 
and interest to persuade, there is the " lust of the 
eye " to allure. A " golden image " is set up to 
draw us to idolatry : treasures upon earth, and the 



SHADRACH, MESHACH, AND ABEDNEG0. 177 

covetousness which they create, is set before the 
view ; a lure in itself too attractive, — one for which 
the human heart too naturally yearns. But let 
one master-feeling arrest the homage, and avert 
the countenance : it is God's rival that is set up ; 
and we must have no other gods but Him. It 
may be thought that it will purchase distinction, 
honour, pleasure, ease ; but such is not the case, 
— the acquisitions it helps to make us masters of, 
are but poor counterfeits of what really is honour, 
and satisfaction, and enjoyment. Those are things 
which reach not the soul in its highest and purest 
longings ; they touch no string to which the holy 
and happy sympathies of the heart will vibrate. 
They are something only to shake and ripple the 
surface: they grasp not the whole man; they 
bring not the moral, and spiritual, and intellec- 
tual parts of our being to combine their energies 
for a real and permanent gratification. And one 
blow, one angry breath from an insulted God, 
may shiver this bright image into dust ; in an in- 
stant, all its pride and glitter may be swept away. 
Yes, and even the world, in its hard-hearted- 
ness and ingratitude, will then mock and revile the 
infatuation of its idolaters ; while He is dishonour- 
ed and estranged, who would have stood by us in 
His strength and consolations, if we had dared to 



178 SHADRACH, MESHACH, AND ABEDNEGO 



3 — «»**~v*»j 



say, " We will not serve thy gods, nor worship the 
golden image which thou hast set up." 

III. But if there be peril in the force of the 
persuasions that are addressed to us, — if there be 
allurement in the glory and splendour of the gold- 
en image itself; there is even more, accompanying 
this work of idolatry, to entice and enslave the 
heart. In the case of Nebuchadnezzar's image, 
there was the tyrant's fury and the heated furnace 
on the one hand, to put down the rising struggles 
of conscience and duty ; on the other hand, there 
was a burst of melody, so rich and sweet and over- 
powering, as to stifle, if possible, every remon- 
strance which might be springing up in the heart 
against the idol-worship. So with the hollow, but 
specious enjoyments which Satan and the world 
connect with the " golden image " set up before 
the eyes and hearts of men, there is every allure- 
ment and enticement added which may bring the 
senses into slavery. There is the music of the 
feast, and the sparkle of the wine-cup, and the ex- 
citement of the game, to keep the outward man in 
bondage, and make him feel, perhaps, that all the 
joy of life rests in the whirl and sweetness of that 
intoxicating dissipation. 

It is a dream at best, — a well-decked phantom 
conjured up by the enemy of souls, from which 
the unhappy slave of pleasure must soon start up 



SHADRACH, MESHACH, AND ABEDNEG0. 179 

in bitter wakefulness. And the reality upon 
which his eyes open at last, is a terrible one ; he 
finds himself wandering in a blighted waste, — in 
the midst even of a burning fiery furnace of his 
own creating. In the wretchedness and torture 
that he suffers, there is no bright gentle spirit, in 
form like unto the Son of God, to support and 
comfort him. Long ago he parted with all that 
belonged to God, to serve His rival and to gratify 
himself. God's worship, and communion, and 
truth, have all been abandoned ; at the sound of 
a delusive melody, in the vain charm of a glitter- 
ing hollow idol, he had given his heart and wor- 
ship to the world, — to its fatal wiles and ungodly 
principles. 

This is the sad issue of a life guided by wrong 
impulses, and forsaking the direction of truth and 
religion. — But shall we leave the sufferer in that 
scene of desolation and sorrow, without the chance 
of escape or the hope of a blessing? No, my 
brethren ; for we should never venture to say that 
the son in the parable must never leave the " far 
country " into which his prodigal feet have wan- 
dered, nor ask again, in his parent's home, for 
better sustenance than the "husks which the 
swine do eat." "We should not dare to say that 
our God is less merciful and tender than the pro- 
digal's father, when a sense of wrong and the ex- 



180 SHAPRACH, MESHACH, AND ABEDNEGO. 

perience of misery brought him back to the 
slighted home of his childhood. We can and 
will believe, that God will deal just as tenderly 
with those, who, wasted by want, — by the want 
of every spiritual privilege and sustenance, — come 
back to Him in real penitence, in genuine contri- 
tion for their sins; who come to Him with a 
right discernment of the preciousness and suffi- 
ciency of the Saviour's blood, — with a due appre- 
ciation of the privileges of their adoption, and the 
value of their birthright, which they had cast 
away or bartered for the objects of the world's 
idolatry. There is hope and a blessing for them, 
if they will come back unfeignedly and heartily 
to God, — love Him, serve Him, honour Him, — 
give up their lives and energies to Him, — and 
have no more to do with the "hidden things of 
dishonesty." 

But it is far better, — and I speak to you, 
brethren, who have been preserved by God's grace 
and blessing from this sad wandering and distress, 
— it is far better to keep always, and from the be- 
ginning, in the path of Christian duty ; better to 
be always on the Lord's side, and never drawn 
away by any force or enticement into the idolatry 
which God abhors. Better to be like those noble 
saints of old, when temptation is the strongest and 
sin would be the deepest, — " We will not serve 



6HADRACH, MESHACH, AND ABEDNEG0. 181 

thy gods, nor worship the golden image which 
thou hast set up." Many a peril is by this means 
avoided, many a pang is spared ; while even from 
the parasites of the idol come honour and reward 
at last, as it did to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed- 
nego. 

Let it, then, be our endeavour, our struggle, 
our prayer, in consistency with the high calling of 
which we are partakers, — however great the diffi- 
culty, and however large the sacrifice, to renounce 
every dominion but the dominion of Him " who is 
King of kings, and Lord of lords, to whom is due 
all honour and praise now and for ever." 



LECTURE XH. 



LECTUEE XII. 



jonah's disobedient flight. 



Jonah i. 3. — " But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from 
the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa ; and he found a 
ship going to Tarshish : so he paid the fare thereof, and went down 
into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the 
Lord." 

The meaning of this disobedient flight of 
Jonah is explained in the words that go before, — 
" Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the 
son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that 
great city, and cry against it ; for their wicked- 
ness is come up before me." — What the particular 
sin of this people was which thus provoked the 
anger of God, is not recorded ; but we may per- 
haps very correctly conjecture what it was, from 
the few circumstances in their history which have 
come down to us. Nineveh is described as a city 
of vast extent, with enormous population, and 
corresponding power. It was of three days' 
journey, or nearly fifty miles in compass ; and 



186 jonah's disobedient flight. 

from the number of its inhabitants — six score thou- 
sand — in that early stage of childhood which could 
" not discern between their right hand and their 
left," we may infer the vastness of the whole pop- 
ulation. In a city thus circumstanced, — the mart, 
too, of a rich surrounding country, — we can be- 
lieve that wealth, and all the accompaniments of 
wealth, abounded. For where this abounds, the 
pomp, and pride, and pageantry, and luxury of 
life will follow. With this outward splendour 
and indulgence, there will, too, be a lowering 
and corruption of the moral tone and feeling. 
Where there is careless merriment, there will be 
licentious dissipation ; where the flesh is pamper- 
ed, there will be little thought or care for the soul; 
where the heart is set upon the acquisition of 
riches, and the comforts and pleasures of the 
world, God will be proportionably neglected and 
forgotten. 

Doubtless, like other great and rich cities that 
we read and know of, this was the case with Nine- 
veh. Wealth begets luxury and licentiousness; 
and with these come on selfishness and hardness 
of heart. Side by side with the grandeur and 
sumptuous fare of the rich, will, in that case, be 
seen the pinching poverty and abject wretchedness 
of the needy and destitute ; licentiousness with re- 
finement, and profligacy with destitution. And 



jonah's disobedient flight. 187 

while the temple of Mammon is crowded with vota- 
ries and piled with offerings, the altar of the true 
and living God is neglected and forsaken. 

This probably was the picture of Nineveh, 
when Jonah was commissioned by God with his 
solemn and terrible message. And such a com- 
mission, to warn a guilty people and bring them 
to repentance, would, we could believe, be a wel- 
come one to a prophet of the Lord : surely Jonah 
would be a glad bearer of the message which was 
to save a great city from destruction, and rescue 
thousands of the innocent as well as the guilty 
from death ! But man's infatuation, even under 
circumstances of the greatest light and favour, is 
mysterious ; and here, the gifted prophet of the 
Lord shows himself to be no exception to man's 
hereditary shortsightedness and depravity. In- 
stead of promptly obeying the Lord's message of 
mercy, he " rose up to flee from the presence of 
the Lord," and " finding a ship going to Tarshish, 
he went down into it to go with them unto Tar- 
shish from the presence of the Lord." 

Here, without pronouncing our feeble judg- 
ment upon the prophet, let us consider the lesson 
that it conveys to ourselves. It tells those who 
have the highest gifts of grace and knowledge as 
Christians, to be always watchful and never pre- 
sumptuous ; to be at all times painfully sensible 



188 jonah's disobedient flight. 

of the weakness and insufficiency of unaided hu- 
man nature, — to consider that temptations and 
perils continually surround us, — and to be ever 
conjoining prayer for heavenly help with our own 
active vigilance and exertions. If Jonah was dis- 
obedient, and Peter denied his Master, it is a warn- 
ing to the most favoured Christians that they are 
in a world of spiritual dangers, and that they 
need continually the armour of God on the right 
hand and on the left, to protect them from the 
fatal assaults of unseen enemies. 

It was, no doubt, a natural weakness, which 
grace had not sufficiently overcome, which led to 
this resistance on the part of Jonah to the will 
and command of God. His errand was to a great 
and mighty city, — a city filled, too, with wicked 
people ; and who could foresee the exasperation 
and the violence with which a prophet of the 
Lord would be met, in proclaiming their guilt 
and calling them to repentance? The weakness 
of the flesh, it may be, shrunk from the contem- 
plation of this appalling prospect, — a solitary 
messenger of the Most High amongst thousands 
of the ungodly, — one lone and helpless man amidst 
the myriads of the licentious and cruel ones who 
inhabited that vast and degenerate city. He 
would, therefore, fly far away in another direc- 



jonah's disobedient flight. 189 

tion, and not encounter these innumerable and 
appalling dangers. 

But it was, perhaps, a more culpable feeling 
than a natural fear which moved Jonah to this 
criminal opposition to God's command. The lat- 
ter portion of this history would seem to show, 
that pride rather than apprehension was at the 
root of this rebellious conduct of the prophet. He 
may have thought that if the Ninevites repented, 
and the city was spared, little credit would ac- 
crue to him from his mission. He would make 
his proclamation, and a fast would follow; he 
would call to repentance, and the people would 
abase themselves. There would be sorrow and 
contrition, and therefore forgiveness ; and the pro- 
phet would return from a peaceful and unostenta- 
tious mission, without a word or a thought of 
wonder or amazement at the duty he had under- 
taken. There would be no cry in Judah, and no 
voice in Israel, how a mighty and wicked people 
had perished, and a guilty city had fallen: he 
would have but a simple tale to tell, — that he had 
called upon the Ninevites to repent, and was 
obeyed ; and no glory or credit, sounding his 
praises through the borders of Palestine, would 
be gained from the easy and commonplace task 
he had discharged. 

Be this as it may, — whether in this lamentable 



190 jonah's disobedient flight. 

opposition to the command of tlie Most High, he 
were moved by fear or vainglory, — we must won- 
der as much at the folly, as at the presumption 
of the prophet, in hoping to " flee from the pres- 
ence of the Lord." From that holy and conse- 
crated spot where the Lord was wont to vouch- 
safe the visible tokens of His presence, Jonah 
might escape : he might fly to a land where there 
was no recognized symbol of Jehovah ; but from 
His all-pervading presence whither could he go ? 
Could he help feeling and speaking as the Psalmist 
did, " If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there : 
if I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there. 
If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in 
the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall 
thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall 
hold me ? " 

If this were unaccountable conduct in the pro- 
phet Jonah, would it not be equally strange and 
reprehensible in any of ourselves ? For there are 
those, alas, now who manifest this infatuation, in 
spite of its folly. They would escape from God's 
felt presence and his Spirit's influence, sometimes 
by estranging themselves from those duties and 
ordinances in which it is specially recognized ; 
and sometimes by flying into the far country of 
dissipation and infidelity. There they would over- 
cloud, if they cannot shut out His presence ; they 



JONAH'S DISOBEDIENT FLIGHT. 191 

would stifle and hush, the still small voice, if they 
cannot destroy it. Mad thought, and fruitless ex- 
pectation ! That presence will yet be revealed to 
the impenitent sinner with lightning terrors ; 
that voice will break forth again with the thun- 
ders of condemnation. Unbelief will not affect 
its reality ; dissipation will not drown its terrors, 
when the dread day of reckoning shall come. 

Jonah entered into a ship at Joppa to fly from 
the presence of the Lord. If he thought that here, 
far away upon the waters, a stranger to the sea- 
faring men with whom he sailed, his profession un- 
known, and no man privy to the errand from on 
high that he was slighting, — if he thought that he 
was now secure, and that no pursuer could over- 
take him, the event soon proved to him how much 
he was mistaken. " The Lord sent out a great wind 
into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in 
the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken." 
The frail little bark perched upon the billows' 
summit, or deep below in the yawning chasm, 
struggles helplessly with the angry waters : skill 
and strength are exerted in vain ; and hopeless 
of safety, as the waves increase and the storm 
sweeps on more furiously, "the mariners were 
afraid, and cried every one unto his god, and cast 
forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, 
to lighten it of them." 



192 jonah's disobedient flight. 

We have here, my brethren, a picture of hu- 
man nature often realized. There are those who, 
when all around them is prosperous and secure, 
are thoughtless and heedless, — often vicious and 
depraved. But when the scene changes and dan- 
ger comes, there is a sudden revolution of the 
whole man ; terror takes the place of an ungodly 
apathy, and presumption is followed by despair. 
In scenes like those in which Jonah's vessel was 
like to be engulphed, men who never prayed will 
fall upon their knees and cry to God. — More than 
this, — the accumulation of years of thrift or fraud, 
the treasured gains of a whole life long, will be 
freely parted with, even joyously flung into the sea, 
to ensure the safety of what is then felt to be more 
precious far than the gain of the whole world. It 
is now, as it was then : in the prospect of impend- 
ing death, the most senseless will feel, and the 
most hardened will pray : when all is about to be 
engulphed, the dross of the world and the wares 
of vanity come to be regarded as hateful things, 
and are freely cast away if life only can be spared. 

But in this awful hour of peril, when heathen 
and idolaters were driven to their knees and in- 
voked their gods ; while the tempest howled, and 
the mountain waves lashed the frail ship, and it 
was every moment expected to be crushed beneath 
their fury ; when there was hurrying to and fro, 



jonah's disobedient flight. 193 

and outheaving of the precious merchandise into 
the sea, and consternation amongst all, — it is natu- 
ral to ask, where was the disobedient truant pro- 
phet of the Lord, — where was Jonah? Crying, 
surely, unto his God also, — struck with remorse for 
his guilty conduct and disobedient flight ; and pray- 
ing, in some unnoticed spot, that God would parr 
don him, and withdraw these awful signs of His 
pursuing vengeance ! Not so, alas ; but, more in- 
sensible far than the poor idolaters with whom 
he was a passenger, he " was gone down into the 
sides of the ship ; and he lay, and was fast asleep." 
Neither the tumult without, nor the sense of guilt 
within, broke in upon that ill-timed slumber ; the 
dangers that environed him were all shut out in 
that deep sleep. 

There are varieties now of the death-bed. 
There are those who are agonized and wretched 
in their last hours ; because, until then, they have 
lived in rebellion against God, and scarce a ray of 
hope lightens the dark passage into eternity. And 
there are those who doze away their last hours, in- 
different and insensible, — the heart hard and un- 
moved, no tear of penitence wrung from the dull 
eye, no sigh of remorse from the cold, sluggish 
spirit. — Of the two, who would not prefer the 
first ? Who would not desire to see consciousness 
and feeling at the last moments of life, — some 

9 



194 jonah's disobedient flight. 

effort and struggle, however late and unworthy, 
during the little fragment of existence that remains, 
— something to show a recognition of the barren- 
ness of the past and the terribleness of the future, 
— some attempt, however weak and despairing, 
to be reconciled to God. Better this, surely, than 
to die without care or thought of sins past, and 
wretchedness to come, — than to pass from the deep 
slumber of guilt into the realities of a world of 
woe ; without a prayer, or a word, to avert the 
wrath of God and awaken even the chance of ac- 
ceptance by Him. 

When all, then, were in terror and praying, in 
the ship from Joppa, and the hope of deliverance 
was all lost, well might the shipmaster, — albeit he 
knew not the full extent of his passenger's guilt, 
— express amazement and horror at this insensi- 
bility to the increasing perils of their situation. 
Well might he accost him with this rebuke, " What 
meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise, call upon thy 
God, if so be that God will think upon us, that 
we perish not." 

With the startling of Jonah from this deep 
stupor, there comes a speedy change over the 
whole of this scene of terror. There was some- 
thing in it so marked and peculiar, — the storm so 
vehement, and their own distress and consterna- 
tion so unusual, — that the mariners believed it to 



jonah's disobedient flight. 195 

be a messenger of Divine justice, sent specially 
to arrest some person in the ship guilty of a hein- 
ous crime; judging, as the barbarous people er- 
roneously did of St. Paul at Melita, that some one 
of them was a murderer, or perjured person, or 
guilty of sacrilege, whom the Divine vengeance 
thus pursued and would not suffer to live. They 
had, therefore, recourse to a mode of decision 
which in those days was common; and which, 
we observe in the history of the Jews and of the 
early Christians, was sanctioned by a Divine 
authority. They " cast lots that they might know 
for whose cause this evil was upon them." 

"And the lot fell upon Jonah; 55 who, after 
examination as to his country, and kindred, and 
occupation, made a full confession of the whole. 
He told them of the sin which he had committed, 
in disobeying God 5 s command and flying from his 
presence; and he told them that it was on ac- 
count of Ms wickedness that this storm was sent. 
He said, too, "Take me up, and cast me forth 
into the sea ; so shall the sea be calm unto you : 
for I know that for my sake this great tempest is 
upon you. 55 

There was something, no doubt, in the pro- 
phets deportment, — much in his honest confession 
and calm intrepidity, — to awaken their interest 
and compassion, and make them reluctant to con- 



196 jonah's disobedient flight. 

summate the sacrifice which he told them must be 
the price of their safety. Rather than adopt this 
cruel alternative, they toiled hard to row the ship 
to land ; but all was fruitless, — Jonah, therefore, 
was cast into the sea, and the sea forthwith became 
calm. 

From this, my brethren, let us learn that when 
any thing stands between us and God's favour, 
however dear and precious it may be, it must be 
given up. However costly, however hard to be 
yielded, that sacrifice must be made if it is to pur- 
chase peace with God ; all must be broken down, 
that stands as a barrier to reconciliation with Him. 
~No offering must be grudged or kept back, if it 
will tranquillize the angry floods that are nigh to 
come over our soul, and still that tempest of ever- 
lasting wrath which would sweep us into endless 
destruction. Above all, if it be our sins which 
are the hindrance to the peace and favour of otir 
heavenly Father; if it be they which rouse up 
this storm of Divine wrath against us, then must 
they be flung away from us, cast off, abandoned, 
hidden out of sight as in the depths of the sea, — 
else they will " drown us in destruction and ever- 
lasting perdition." 

Above all, in the casting of Jonah into the sea, 
that the ship's crew might be preserved, let us dis- 
cern a lively type of that adorable Saviour, who, 



jonah's disobedient flight. 197 

when we were about to perish, "delivered him- 
self up for us all." The sacrifice of Jonah was the 
deliverance of those with whom he was a passenger ; 
the sacrifice of Jesus, the Lamb of God, was the 
redemption of the whole world from everlasting 
misery, — from the lake of fire and the bottomless 
pit. — But though the type is evident and not to be 
mistaken, in the particulars of resemblance we 
shall find perfection only on the side of Him who 
was "holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from 
sinners." Jonah was a disobedient prophet ; but 
our Lord says, " My meat is to do the will of him 
that sent me." Jonah shrunk from a perilous mis- 
sion, and fled to avoid the presence of the Lord ; 
Christ faced the powers of darkness, and drank 
the cup of wrath and suffering from which his hu- 
man nature recoiled. Jonah's was an involuntary 
offering ; Christ freely laid down his life for our 
sakes." 



LECTURE XIH. 



LECTUKE XIII. 

REPENTANCE OF THE NINEVITES. 

Jonah iii. 10. — "And God saw their works, that they turned 
from their evil way ; and God repented of the evil that he had said 
that he would do unto them ; and he did it not. 

Though to human eye Jonah had perished, no 
more to be seen until the great and terrible day 
when " the sea should give up her dead," this was 
not his last end. lie was yet to bear his testimony 
to the wicked, and call the guilty to repentance ; 
above all, he was to manifest that as a fact of 
which the Divine revelations should give abundant 
assurance,-^-that there was to be no permanent 
death to the body, but that even of this material 
frame there should be a resurrection to glory eter- 
nal, or to everlasting contempt. " The Lord pre- 
pared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And 
Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and 
three nights .... And the Lord spake unto 
the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry 
land." 

to* 



202 REPENTANCE OF THE NINEYITES. 

When St. Paul, my brethren, experienced that 
conversion which a miraculous interposition so 
graciously brought about, and beneath a super- 
natural blaze of light and the voice of expostula- 
tion issuing from it, he threw himself prostrate 
upon the earth, — the first words he uttered were, 
" Lord, what wilt thou have me to do ? " He was 
now the willing servant of that Lord whose name 
he had so bitterly spoken against ; he became the 
zealous pleader for those Christians, whom he was 
even then on his way to persecute. All his feel- 
ings, like his convictions, were changed ; and he 
could henceforward preach the Gospel as freely 
and undauntedly as he had defended and explain- 
ed the Law. 

Similar emotions, we can believe, affected 
Jonah, when, released from his fearful prison- 
house, he could look upon the bright world once 
more, and feel that the Lord's controversy with 
him was over and that the Lord was reconciled. 
" What wilt thou have me to do ? " we can believe 
to have been his hearty language, as he surveyed 
himself a monument so wonderful of God's power, 
and grace and mercy. And happy was he for his 
chastening, though so stern and terrible, if there 
followed from it repentance for his transgression 
and a return to duty; and well might he say, 
" Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now 



REPENTANCE OF THE NINEVITES. 203 

have I kept thy word." And happy, too, are we, 
if we so view the Lord's corrections when visited 
upon ourselves ; if under the visible chastenings 
of His hand, we shew no murmuring or stifF-neck- 
edness, but feel it to be a louder, plainer call to 
give up our sins and be more obedient followers of 
God. 

In another respect was Jonah particularly 
favoured, — he was honoured again with the Lord's 
confidence and commission ; for justly might the 
" Spirit of prophecy," which he had so wickedly 
resisted, have departed from him never to return 
to him any more. But in his case we have proof, 
that when the Lord forgives, he forgets ; and those 
whom He forgives He receives into His family 
again, and restores to their former condition, 
though they had been prodigal children and dis- 
obedient servants. " The word of the Lord came 
unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go 
unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it 
the preaching that I bid thee," — the same, no 
doubt, which at his first mission he had been or- 
dered to proclaim : Cry against it, and declare to 
its inhabitants that their wickedness is come up 
before God, and God's vengeance is coming down 
upon them. — And there was no wavering, no dis- 
obedience on the part of the prophet now, — no 
halting or hesitation, though the mission was the 



204 REPENTANCE OF THE NINEVITES. 

same and the peril attending it equal. He must 
speak the same words to the guilty people, and 
encounter the danger of the bold proclamation. 

He comes then to the great and mighty city, 
of three days' journey in compass; and proceed- 
ing a day's journey into it, "he cried and said, 
Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown." 
How it should be destroyed, he tells them not; 
why, is not related amongst the words of his pro- 
clamation. But in warning them of the over- 
throw which awaited them, he told them, doubt- 
less, of their sins, — their idolatry, their profligacy, 
their love of pleasure, their hard-heartedness, and 
neglect of God, — all those sins, in short, which a 
widening prosperity engenders ; especially where 
there is not the root of religion to guide and sanc- 
tify all, and the principle of faith to make every 
thing bend to, and work for, the glory of God and 
the truest welfare of men. 

We can readily understand that, on hearing 
this call to repentance, and this threat of immedi- 
ate destruction if it was neglected, inquiry would 
be made who the prophet was that so boldly and 
peremptorily commanded this national reforma- 
tion, — whence he came, — and what were his cre- 
dentials. ]STor would they be long in ascertaining 
that he came from a land where miracles were a 
part of their history, — from those whose birth as a 



REPENTANCE OF THE NINEVITES. 205 

nation was marked by signs and wonders from 
heaven, — and whose career all along evinced that 
they were under the special protection of the 
Most High. A prophet from them, as contrasted 
with the false prophets of fictitious deities, would 
gain, therefore from the Ninevites respect and 
veneration. And if, as was not unlikely, the cir- 
cumstances of his recent history, — his first mission 
which he sought to frustrate, the storm at sea, and 
all the horrors consequent upon it from which by 
a special miracle he was made to escape ; if all 
these should have reached their ears, then we can- 
not wonder that Jonah's cry to Nineveh was 
heard with deep attention, and provoked immedi- 
ate action. 

The prophet, as he made his simple but start- 
ling proclamation, was not treated with the scorn 
and neglect so common amongst the mass of the 
careless world. They did not in Nineveh endea- 
vour to persuade themselves that he was an en- 
thusiast or impostor, — that he bore an unauthor- 
ized message, or spoke from the impulse of his own 
heated imagination; but "the people of Nineveh 
believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on 
sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the 
least of them." They were smitten at once with 
a conviction of their multiplied and heinous sins 
against God ; they admitted the justice of the pro- 



206 REPENTANCE OF THE NINEVITES. 

phet's appeal, and the righteousness of the ven- 
geance that was threatened; and they humbled 
themselves before God with every usual sign of 
abasement and contrition. This deep penitence 
and hearty sorrow for sin pervaded all ranks and 
conditions ; for " the king arose from his throne, 
and laid his robe from him, and covered him with 
sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to 
be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by 
the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let 
neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any 
thing; let them not feed nor drink water: but let 
man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry 
mightily unto God : yea, let them turn every one 
from his evil way, and from the violence that is 
in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and 
repent, and turn away from His fierce anger, that 
we perish not ? * ; 

Well may we say here, " Happy are the peo- 
ple that are in such a case," — where those in au- 
thority, and high in station take the lead in acts 
of religious duty. Who can say what a warping, 
deadening influence an opposite conduct in the 
king of Nineveh might have had upon the people ? 
Mankind naturally regard the present visible ef- 
fect of wealth and power and place ; and if these 
are opposed to the unseen things with which alone 
faith can deal, then we may well dread the world's 



REPENTANCE OF THE NINEVITES. 207 

absorption of the rising spiritual duty. In too 
many quarters it will be despised, because the 
great despise it ; it will be cast aside as a thing 
vile and valueless, because the rich and powerful 
treat it with disdain. O would that the fearful re- 
sponsibility which, in the momentous concern of 
religion, is imposed by God's providence upon 
those in authority, or who occupy conspicuous 
stations in the world, were more carefully viewed 
and deeply pondered on ! The parent's influence, 
even within its limited circle, is most powerful for 
evil or for good ; and example on his part, in the 
work of religion, goes far to mould, and train, and 
guide the confiding company about him. And so 
it is with every man who is influential, be that 
more or less, from wealth or station, education or 
talent, — he works by his example, more power- 
fully than is to himself apparent, for or against the 
cause of God and the principles of truth and holi- 
ness. If by good example he may, in due humil- 
ity, believe that he gains over but few to the plea- 
sant and peaceful paths of religion, he is, by evil 
example, sure to drive many away. The conta- 
gion of evil is, unhappily, far more certain than 
the influence of good. Many a promising child, 
many an ingenuous youth, from contemplating 
the vicious or ungodly example of those to whom 
from wealth or station, popularity, or intellectual 



208 REPENTANCE OF THE NINETITES. 

eminence, we naturally look up, lias been gradual- 
ly weaned away from the service and ordinances 
of God, — joins by and by in scoffs and jeers at 
what is holy and true, — and by a natural and 
rapid decline, falls into evil living, profligacy, and 
a moral ruin. Deeply then does it concern those 
to pause, and reflect upon their responsibilities 
and their perils, who are thus as it were Wk set up 
as a city on a hill ; " and endeavour to employ 
for good, and not for evil, the power and influence 
with which God in His providence has invested 
them. Well Would it be to apply Scripture warn- 
ings and examples to their profit for time and for 
eternity ; and, as in the history before us, to make 
the king of a great people a model for humble and 
prayerful imitation. 

The king of Kmeveli commanded all to 
mourn, and fast, and pray ; no class or condition 
were exempt ; and even the beasts, the herds and 
flocks, were to share in the general abstinence and 
humiliation. Their bleatinirs and lowings under 
this temporary deprivation of food, would well ac- 
cord with the wailings and supplications which 
the rational portion of the inhabitants were re- 
quired to express for their sins. Every abode was 
to manifest signs of mourning ; every creature to 
exhibit the marks of abasement and contrition, — 
the gay clothing of the people, the rich trappings 



REPENTANCE OF THE NINEVITES. 209 

of their horses, to give place to sackcloth, — the 
luxurious fare to be laid aside, the revel to be 
hushed, the voice of music to cease, — all to wear 
the aspect of universal sadness. 

That these external signs of an inward sorrow 
of heart was a prevalent and sanctioned custom 
amongst God's ancient people, and not forbidden 
by our Saviour, need not now be explained. 
Though in themselves and by themselves they are 
nothing, yet, as in the funeral garb and mourning 
habit amongst ourselves, they are appropriate 
signs of the inward sorrow and humiliation that is 
felt, and of the repentance that is determined upon. 
These, it is true, may be but the show of grief, and 
feints only of abasement, and in such cases they 
are the act of dissemblers merely ; yet the hearty 
penitent, and especially a penitent people, will 
naturally seek and manifest some external signifi- 
cation of the sorrow that is felt within. 

The result, in the case of the Ninevites, attested 
the genuineness of their grief; and it proves that 
God, in the infinity of His love and mercy, pro- 
claims no inexorable purposes, — issues no un- 
changeable decrees. Though it is His unalterable 
determination to punish sin, it is equally His un- 
changeable purpose to pardon it upon repentance. 
"God saw their works, that they turned from 
their evil way ; and God repented of the evil that 



210 REPENTANCE OF THE NINEVITES. 

he had said he would do unto them ; and he did 
it not." Obedience is, in His sight, better than 
all whole burnt offerings, — the sacrifice of a 
broken spirit and contrite heart, is more accept- 
able to Him than the costliest oblations without 
the evidence of a genuine repentance and hearty 
reformation. 

But vain, my brethren, would such recitals be 
to us of man's contrition and God's pardon, if 
there was no endeavour to make the case our own, 
by calling up and repenting of our sins, and suppli- 
cating the Divine forgiveness for them. I need 
not attempt to explain in what minute particulars 
our own case shows a comparison with that of the 
Ninevites, for we are not told what the special 
provocations were which awakened the Divine 
anger against them, and begat the solemn mission 
of Jonah; but we need no stronger assurance 
than the testimony of conscience, that our sins 
against God are great and innumerable, and that 
to obtain their pardon they must be atoned for 
and repented of. Devotion to the world and sin- 
ful indulgences, are undeniably the bane of the 
present age ; and where these go on unchecked, 
there is, and must be, a sad and grievous neglect 
of the duties 'specially owing to God. The ac- 
quisitions of science, and the marvellous attain- 
ments of human skill, seem to concentrate their 



REPENTANCE OF THE NINEVITES. 211 

power and influence almost exclusively m one 
quarter, — to bring variety and refinement to tem- 
poral gratifications, and strength and advance- 
ment to human aims and pursuits. There is no 
correspondent labour for the soul, — no parallel 
effort to honour God ; on the contrary, as human 
speculations, in their vastness and variety, widen 
and deepen, piety and devotion seem to be eaten 
out of the heart, and nothing left but a sordid 
surrender to the things of time and sense. 

But we are never left to our heedlessness and 
folly, unchecked and unwarned. The call to repent- 
ance is perpetual, whether we will hear or forbear. 
God's providences, either for joy or sorrow, are 
constantly speaking to us their warning lessons. 
Health and prosperity remind us of the gratitude 
and obedience that we owe Him; sickness and 
adversity are but other names for a Father's cor- 
rections, to quicken our sense of sin and revive 
our duty of repentance. 

In the proclamation to a transgressing and re- 
bellious world to repent and turn to God, our Sa- 
viour tells us, " a greater than Jonah is here." 
His divinely constituted, blood-bought Church, is 
a standing beacon to the erring nations, — a world- 
wide warning to the thoughtless and impenitent. 
This is the treasure-house of prayer : there is His 
word, and accredited ambassadors ; there His sac- 



212 REPENTANCE OF THE NINEVITES. 

ranients, — the steady, never-ending reprovers of 
sin, as they are channels of grace for its subjection. 
A greater than Jonah is here, in the invisible and 
spiritual, yet certain presence of the Lord himself, 
— speaking, through that ordinance, condemnation 
to the impenitent, and help and refreshment to 
the faithful and striving. 

" Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be over- 
thrown," was the cry of the prophet which awoke 
alarm and repentance. Yet a few years, per- 
chance a few days or hours, and we shall have 
done with the world, and its gay and glittering 
enticements. But beneath the ruin of its final 
overthrow, there is not to be a stifling for ever of 
human sense and consciousness. The immortal 
life is stronger than the material universe ; and 
death, in the vastness of his victories, can achieve 
no triumph over the imperishable soul. To the 
undying spirit, on the judgment day, there will 
be added an imperishable body, — both to enjoy 
blessedness eternal, or wretchedness without end. 
Choose ye then, brethren, whom ye will serve, 
that you may gain the one and escape the other. 
Choose the good part of Christian truth, and pious 
duty, loyalty to the faith, and obedience to the Lord 
that bought you; but choose not the cause and 
service of His enemy and yours. And parley not, 
nor be making alruce with that enemy; but choose 



REPENTANCE OF THE NINEVITES. 213 

at once the side of your heavenly Father, with His 
grace and love. Remember your baptismal vows, 
your pledged engagement to be the Lord's ser- 
vants and soldiers ; on all occasions, evince your 
part and lot in His meritorious sacrifice, — your 
resolute determination, with God's help, to for- 
sake sin and lead a new and holy life. 



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